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SharePoint: Custom columns are hidden in the destination document library when the 'Content and Structure' feature is used to move or copy documents

Article ID: 2657619 - View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

You have a SharePoint Publishing site. The site contains a number of document libraries and each document library has its own custom columns configured.

You then decide to “Move” or “Copy” a document or documents from one document library to another using the “Manage Content and Structure” functionality.

After this operation is complete, you notice the following:

In the destination document library, you can no longer access the custom columns of that document library, (for both existing documents and newly uploaded ones), even though the custom columns are still visible in the document library view and the library settings.
The custom columns from the source document library are now present in the destination document library and are now the only ones that can be accessed, for both existing documents and newly uploaded ones.

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Cause

The behavior described in the SYMPTOMS section is by design.

The “Manage Content and Structure” functionality of a SharePoint Publishing site uses the Microsoft SharePoint Content Deployment and Migration API to implement the “Move…” and “Copy…” functionality. This API will move/copy the item along with its content type.

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Resolution

To avoid the behavior described in the SYMPTOMS section, only use the “Manage Content and Structure” functionality of a SharePoint Publishing site to move or copy documents between document libraries that have the same custom columns.

To recover access to the custom columns of a document library that have become inaccessible due to a “Move” or “Copy” operation performed using the “Manage Content and Structure” functionality, please do the following:

Access the “Library Settings” of the affected document library.
On Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, you do this by clicking on the “Settings” option of the library and then selecting the “Document Library Settings” option.
On SharePoint Server 2010, you do this by clicking on the “Library” tab of the Ribbon, and then clicking on the “Library Settings” icon.
On the settings page that appears, click on the "Advanced Settings" option.
On the Advanced Settings page, switch the "Allow management of custom content types" option to "Yes" and confirm the change by clicking on "OK".
Back on the settings page, under the "Content Types" section, click on "Document".
On the page that appears, click on the "Add from existing site or list columns" option.
On the page that appears, the inaccessible custom columns will be listed in the "Available Columns:" table. Select the columns and click on “Add” to add them to the "Columns to add:" table. Confirm the change by clicking on "OK".
Go back to the settings page for the document library, click on the "Advanced Settings" option and switch the "Allow management of custom content types" option back to "No" and confirm the change by clicking on "OK".
OPTIONAL: If you do not want/need the custom columns that are now present in the document library due to the “Move” or “Copy” operation performed using the “Manage Content and Structure” functionality, you can delete them by clicking on the relevant custom column’s name in the “Columns” section and then clicking on the “Delete” button on the page that appears. NOTE: Deleting the custom column will also delete the information contained in that column. Be very sure that you are deleting the correct column before proceeding with the “Delete” operation.

Once the above has been done, the document library should be fully functional again.

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Note This is a "FAST PUBLISH" article created directly from within the Microsoft support organization. The information contained herein is provided as-is in response to emerging issues. As a result of the speed in making it available, the materials may include typographical errors and may be revised at any time without notice. See Terms of Use

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