How to check if File exists or not in a SharePoint document library using PowerShell

In this particular SharePoint online tutorial, we will discuss: If the file exists or not inside a document library in SharePoint online using PowerShell? Also, we will check if a particular file exists inside a folder in the SharePoint Online document library using PowerShell.

The same way we can check if a file exists in a document library using PowerShell in SharePoint 2013/2016.

All the PowerShell scripts you can run, debug and test in visual studio code or by using Windows PowerShell ISE.

Check if file exists in a document library in SharePoint online using PowerShell

Now, we will check if a file exists in a SharePoint document library using PowerShell.

Below PowerShell script, which will take the relative URL of the file and will check if the file exists on the SharePoint document library or not.

$SPOnlineUserName="bijay@******.onmicrosoft.com"
Try{
Add-Type -Path 'C:\Users\Bijaya.Sahoo\Desktop\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll'
Add-Type -Path 'C:\Users\Bijaya.Sahoo\Desktop\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll'
}
catch {
}
function IsFileExists()
{
$context = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext("https://******.sharepoint.com/sites/bhawana/")
$securePassword=ConvertTo-SecureString "*******" -AsPlainText -Force
$context.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($SPOnlineUserName, $securePassword)
Try {
$File = $context.web.GetFileByServerRelativeUrl("/sites/bhawana/BijayDocuments/Blogs.txt")
$context.Load($File)
$context.ExecuteQuery()
return $True
}
Catch {
Write-Host $_.Exception.Message
return $False
}
}
$FileExists = IsFileExists
if($FileExists) {
write-host "File Exists"
}
else {
write-host "File Doesn't Exists"
}

The above PowerShell script will return true if the file exists in the document library and false if the file is not exists in the document library.

Check if file exists inside folder in document library in SharePoint online using PowerShell

The below PowerShell script will check if the file exists in any particular folder in SharePoint online document library.

$SiteURL = "https://******.sharepoint.com/sites/bhawana/"
$SPOnlineUserName="bijay@******.onmicrosoft.com"
Try{
Add-Type -Path 'C:\Users\Bijaya.Sahoo\Desktop\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll'
Add-Type -Path 'C:\Users\Bijaya.Sahoo\Desktop\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll'
}
catch {
}
function IsFileExists()
{
$context = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
$securePassword=ConvertTo-SecureString "******" -AsPlainText -Force
$context.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($SPOnlineUserName, $securePassword)
Try {
$File = $context.web.GetFileByServerRelativeUrl("/sites/bhawana/BijayDocuments/01-02-18/Useful.txt")
$context.Load($File)
$context.ExecuteQuery()
return $True
}
Catch {
Write-Host $_.Exception.Message
return $False
}
}
$FileExists = IsFileExists
if($FileExists) {
write-host "File Exists"
}
else {
write-host "File Doesn't Exists"
}

The above PowerShell script will check if a file exists inside a folder in the SharePoint Online document library.

How to check the document already exist in the Document library in SharePoint (SPFolder)

Now, we will see how to check the document already exists in the document library in SharePoint using SPFolder class in SharePoint 2016/2013.

The below code will not work in SharePoint Online, because we can not use the server object model code in SharePoint Online.

Here we will use SPFile.Exists property to check if a particular file is exists or not in SharePoint.

using (SPSite site = new SPSite("http://Site URL"))
using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
{
SPFile file = web.GetFile("/site/TSInfo/HR/hrdocument.docx");
if (file.Exists)
{
//Your code will goes here.
}
}

Check if file exists in SharePoint using CSOM

We can also check if file exists or not in SharePoint using CSOM (.Net client object model)

Below is the code to check if file exists or not in SharePoint using csom.

using(var ctx = new ClientContext("https://onlysharepoint2013.sharepoint.com/sites/Bhawana/"))
{
ctx.AuthenticationMode = ClientAuthenticationMode.Default;
ctx.Credentials = new SharePointOnlineCredentials(GetSPOAccountName(), GetSPOSecureStringPassword());
Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.File file = web.GetFileByServerRelativeUrl("/site/Bhawana/HR/hrdocument.docx");
bool isDocExists = false;
try
{
ctx.Load(file);
ctx.ExecuteQuery();
isDocExists = file.Exists;
}
catch{ }
if (isDocExists )
{
//Your code will goes here.
}
}
private static SecureString GetSPOSecureStringPassword()
{
try
{
var secureString = new SecureString();
foreach (char c in "YourPassword")
{
secureString.AppendChar(c);
}
return secureString;
}
catch
{
throw;
}
}

Here, ctx.ExecuteQuery(); will through an error if the document exists in the document library and according to that you need to handle the code in SharePoint.

You may like following SharePoint PowerShell tutorials:

• Working with PowerShell in SharePoint 2013
• Copy SharePoint list items to another list programmatically using CSOM in SharePoint Online/2013/2016
• SharePoint Online Office 365: Delete and Restore Site Collection using PowerShell
• Create a file if not exists with a name as today’s date using PowerShell
• How to check if the file created last 24 hours using PowerShell?
• Insert/Add item to SharePoint Online list using PowerShell
• The list is too large to save as a template. The size of a template cannot exceed 52428800 bytes SharePoint Online/2016/2013 save as a template error
• How to create and remove indexed column using PowerShell in SharePoint Online/2013/2016 list or document library?
• Upload bulk documents to SharePoint 2016 document library using PowerShell

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I hope this article will be helpful to check if a file exists in the document library using PowerShell in SharePoint, SharePoint server object model, and client-side object model.