downloading a file from SharePoint Online with PowerShell

Question

I have a requirement to download files from a sharepoint online document library using powershell

I\'ve managed to get to the point where the download should happen

Answer 1

While the CSOM code above likely can be made to work I find it easier to use the web client method.

(from http://soerennielsen.wordpress.com/2013/08/25/use-csom-from-powershell/)

I've used the code below, to retrieve a bunch of files (metadata from CSOM queries) to a folder (using your $result collection, other params should be adjusted a bit):

#$siteUrlString site collection url
#$outPath path to export directory


$siteUri = [Uri]$siteUrlString
$client = new-object System.Net.WebClient
$client.UseDefaultCredentials=$true

if ( -not (Test-Path $outPath) ) {
    New-Item $outPath -Type Directory  | Out-Null
}

$result |% {
    $url = new-object Uri($siteUri, $_["FileRef"])
    $fileName = $_["FileLeafRef"]
    $outFile = Join-Path $outPath $fileName
    Write-Host "Downloading $url to $outFile"

    try{
        $client.DownloadFile( $url, $outFile )      
    }
    catch{
        #one simple retry...
        try{
            $client.DownloadFile( $url, $outFile )      
        }
        catch{
            write-error "Failed to download $url, $_"
        }
    }
}   

The trick here is the $client.UseDefaultCredentials=$true

which will authenticate the webclient for you (as the current user).

Answer 2

The direct and almost shortest answer to the question is simply:

$url = 'https://the.server/path/to/the/file.txt'
$outfile = "$env:userprofile\file.txt"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile $outfile -Credential (Get-Credential)

This works at least in Powershell 5.1...

Answer 3

So I gave up on this. it turned out to be much easier to write an SSIS script component to do the job. I have awarded Soeren as he posted some code that will work for regular websites but not sodding SharePoint Online.

Thanks Sorean!

Answer 4

I was able to download the file successfully with the following relevant code snippet. You should be able to extend it for your situation.

Add-Type –Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type –Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"
$siteUrl = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter web URL"
$username = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter your username"
$password = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter password" -AsSecureString
$source = "/filepath/sourcefilename.dat" #server relative URL here
$target = "C:/detinationfilename.dat" #URI of the file locally stored

$ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($siteUrl)
$credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($username, $password)
$ctx.Credentials = $credentials

[Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.FileInformation] $fileInfo = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.File]::OpenBinaryDirect($ctx,$source);
[System.IO.FileStream] $writeStream = [System.IO.File]::Open($target,[System.IO.FileMode]::Create);

$fileInfo.Stream.CopyTo($writeStream);
$writeStream.Close();

Answer 5

You could also utilize WebClient.DownloadFile Method by providing SharePoint Online credentials to download the resource from SharePoint Online as demonstrated below.

Prerequisites

SharePoint Online Client Components SDK have to be installed on the machine running the script.

How to download a file in SharePoint Online/O365 in PowerShell

Download-File.ps1 function:

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint.Client")
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime")


 Function Download-File([string]$UserName, [string]$Password,[string]$FileUrl,[string]$DownloadPath)
 {
    if([string]::IsNullOrEmpty($Password)) {
      $SecurePassword = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter the password" -AsSecureString 
    }
    else {
      $SecurePassword = $Password | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force
    }
    $fileName = [System.IO.Path]::GetFileName($FileUrl)
    $downloadFilePath = [System.IO.Path]::Combine($DownloadPath,$fileName)


    $client = New-Object System.Net.WebClient 
    $client.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($UserName, $SecurePassword)
    $client.Headers.Add("X-FORMS_BASED_AUTH_ACCEPTED", "f")
    $client.DownloadFile($FileUrl, $downloadFilePath)
    $client.Dispose()
}

Usage

Download-File -UserName "username@contoso.onmicrosoft.com" -Password "passowrd" -FileUrl https://consoto.sharepoint.com/Shared Documents/SharePoint User Guide.docx -DownloadPath "c:\downloads"