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Moving files and folders between Teams via sharepoint site, and files disappear

Toyomi 0 Reputation points
2026-05-07T15:21:48.7866667+00:00

I read that we could move files and folders between Teams as workaround. When I tried that, the files I "Move to" disappears from original location, and nowhere to be found. Luckly, I have saved originals elsewhere, so I was able to recover them, but why files disappear? What did I do wrong?

Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams for business | Teams and channels | Manage a team or channel
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  1. Ian-Ng 13,690 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-05-07T16:56:57.8066667+00:00

    Hi @Toyomi, 

    Thank you for reaching out regarding this issue.  

    From your description, it appears that the Move to command performed its primary task of removing the items from the source, but the transfer to the destination seems to have been interrupted or misdirected. 

    I would like to share that Move to is functionally a cut-and-paste operation. Unlike Copy to, which remains the safer choice by leaving the original data intact, Move to is designed to delete the source file as soon as the process begins. If synchronization is delayed, the files may appear to be temporarily missing.

    To help locate your file, please follow these troubleshooting steps below: 

    1/ Verify the destination via SharePoint.

    • Open the target channel and select Open in SharePoint. Teams channel files are stored in SharePoint, so this is the best place to confirm the actual file location.
    • User's image
    • You can also use SharePoint search and browse the document library to check whether the files were moved into a different folder than expected.
    • User's image

    2/ Check the source Recycle Bin.

    If the files are not visible in the destination, also check the source site’s Recycle Bin. After a move completes, the item is removed from the source and remains in the source site’s Recycle Bin under the normal recycle schedule. 

    Please check both the primary Recycle Bin and the Second-stage recycle bin (at the bottom of the page). In SharePoint, deleted items are typically retained for 93 days across both stages. 

     User's image

    If you do not see the second-stage Recycle Bin, it may not be available for your permissions or site setup. In that case, please contact your SharePoint or IT admin for further checking (in case you do not know who is your IT admin, kindly refer to this article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support)

    3/ Confirm the channel type. 

    The storage location depends on whether the channel is standard, private, or shared. Private channels store files in a separate SharePoint site from the rest of the team’s files.

    • Standard channel: Check the parent team’s SharePoint site Recycle Bin. 
    • Private channel: Open that private channel in SharePoint and check the Recycle Bin for that specific site. 
    • Shared channel: Open the shared channel in SharePoint and check the Recycle Bin associated with that specific location. 

    Going forward, using "Copy to" is the best practice for critical data. This ensures the original stays available until you confirm the transfer is successful. 

    Hope this helps clarify the behavior and gives you a path to locate your files. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-05-07T15:22:03.8066667+00:00

    Using SharePoint’s Move to from a Teams-connected library removes the file from the source location once the move completes and places it in the destination. A few behaviors from the platform explain why it looked like the files “disappeared”:

    1. Files stay visible in the source until the move finishes
      When a file is moving, it continues to appear in the source directory until the move is fully complete. After that, it is deleted from the source and only exists in the destination.
    2. Moved files go to the destination library and into the source Recycle Bin
      After a successful move:
      • The file is stored in the destination folder/library (for example, the other Team’s SharePoint document library).
      • A deleted copy is placed in the source site’s Recycle Bin and follows the normal recycle schedule.
      If the destination library or folder was not the one expected (for example, a different channel’s folder or a different site), it can look like the file vanished even though it is in the new location and also in the source Recycle Bin.
    3. Move can fail silently in some scenarios
      The Move to operation will fail if the destination library enforces unique values on a column and the incoming file conflicts with that rule. In that case, the move does not complete successfully. The file should remain in the source, but if the UI or sync client was out of date or filtered, it might appear missing.
    4. Versioning and metadata behavior
      When moving between libraries:
      • Only properties supported in the destination are kept; unsupported metadata is lost.
      • Managed metadata values are not retained.
      This does not delete the file, but it can make the result look unexpected if relying on certain columns to find it.
    5. How to locate or recover the “missing” files
      • In Teams, open the channel’s Files tab → More options → Open in SharePoint for both the source and destination Teams, then check the expected folders.
      • In the source SharePoint site, go to Recycle bin and look for the moved files. If found, select them and choose Restore; they will return to their last stored location.
    6. What to do differently next time
      • Verify the exact destination path in the Move to dialog (site, library, and folder) before confirming.
      • After moving, immediately open the destination library in SharePoint to confirm the files are there.
      • If moving large sets of files between SharePoint libraries/Teams, do it in smaller batches and verify each batch.

    Nothing in the described behavior indicates a permanent loss if the move completed normally; the files should either be in the destination library or recoverable from the source site’s Recycle Bin.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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