Templates can be used when copying content or performing a bulk edit to customize your options. They allow you to select the options used for the copy, and to set custom actions for all of the destination list or library columns.
Customized options are always saved automatically for your migration job, but creating a template allows you to use those options for multiple migrations.
Index
How-to
Run a Copy content or Bulk edit content.
From Copy content, click Options in the top right to access Copy options.
From Bulk edit content, you will see the Bulk edit options screen from following the natural flow.
In the Options screen, click the Template dropdown.
Click + Create template
Name your template.
Click Save.
Select the options you would like for your Template. See General, Metadata, and Filter options for more details.
Once everything is set, you can Save you template for future use. If needed, you can also Duplicate your template, export it, or import any saved templates you previously exported. All saved templates are accessible in your Copy Options menu.
General options
Below are the options you will see on the General tab.
Operation mode
Automatic (default): You will not be prompted in any situation. You can select one of the following options for items that already exist at the destination:
Copy and replace them (default): Replaces items at the destination which have the same name.
Don't copy existing items: Will not copy over items that have the same name as items in the destination.
Copy and keep both: Copies duplicate items, but automatically renames one as to not cause an error or override.
Copy if newer (incremental): Replaces a duplicate item only if the date modified is older than the one at the source. Learn More.
Manual: You will be prompted to choose an action when errors or warning occur.
Note: If you have a lot of items, Manual is not recommended.
Configuration
Select which items/properties you would like to preserve from the options available.
List content: All list items, documents, folders and document sets inside the lists and libraries will be copied.
Custom permissions: Custom permissions on lists, libraries and their content will be preserved during the copy. If it is not selected, everything will be set to inherit the permissions from its parent.
Workflows (Out-of-the-box, SharePoint Designer and Nintex): The workflows associated with the migrated objects will be copied to the destination. The only supported workflows are the built-in SharePoint workflows, the ones created with SharePoint Designer and Nintex Workflows.
Required features: All the site and site collection features that are required by the elements being copied will be automatically activated.
Web parts: The web parts will be copied when copying pages.
Customized list forms: Customized lists and content type forms will be copied. Selecting this option makes the copy much slower than when it is not selected, so it should only be selected when copying lists and libraries that really require it. This includes Nintex, InfoPath as well as ASPX forms.
List views: Customized lists views will be copied.
User alerts: List user alerts will be copied. The item user alerts will be copied as well if the List Content option is selected. This requires the Server extension on the source and destination server.
Preserve authors and timestamps: This option will bring over the values in the "Created By", "Created", "Modified By" and "Modified" columns while copying.
Version history: This option will preserve version history while migrating. For the option to be available, versioning should be enabled on the destination list or library. If the destination only allows for major versions, only the source major versions will be copied, not the draft (minor) versions.
Limit to X latest versions: By selecting this and entering the desired number of versions, ShareGate Migrate will copy the X latest version, while always conserving at least one Major version.
Preserve permissions: This option will preserve item-level permissions while migrating. With this option selected, all the item-level permissions will be preserved when copying, taking into consideration mapped users and groups and mapped permission levels. If it is not selected, everything will be set to inherit permissions from its parent (which is the default behavior in SharePoint).
User alerts: This option will preserve user alerts associated to the items. This requires the server extension on the source and destination site.
Preserve Web parts: This option will preserve Web parts when copying pages.
Update links: This option will correct your links. This means that items that link to another item in your source site will be corrected during the migration to link to items in your destination site. For example, if you have a Wiki page library and 2 pages in this library: a Details page and a General page. The General page contains a link to the Details page. If you migrate those 2 pages to a new Wiki page library on a new site and you don't select the option to correct links, the new General page will contain the exact same link as it did before, which means that it will link to the old Details page. If you select the option to correct links, the new General page will link to the new Details page.
Flatten folder hierarchy: This option allows you to completely eliminate any folder structure you had when copying to the destination and put every item or document at the top-level.
Title and URL
Modify this field to change the title and URL in the destination (the title and URL will remain unchanged in the source).
Metadata
You can keep the default or set a new mapped value.
Set mapped value: Set the value specified in the source column mapped with the given destination column. An indicator will appear to let you know if it is mapped to a source property already or if you need to set the mapping. Clicking on Set mapping will open the Map Properties window.
Set custom value: Allows you to set a specific value to be used in a given column for a given content type while copying content.
Ask a value: Stops at each item being copied using this content type and will ask you to specify a value for it.
Set mapped value or default: Does the same as Set mapped value, but if the resulting value is blank, it will use the default value that you specified
Ignore: The property will be left empty at the destination.
Filter options
Time range filter: Toggle this filter to limit your migration to items that were created or modified within a specific date range.
Edit or delete template
To edit a template, hover over it on the Template drop-down and click the edit icon.
To delete a template, hover over it on the Template drop-down and click the delete icon.