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How to Move a skybow Solution to Another SharePoint Site

skybow Support
  • Article Updated

This article describes how to move a solution built with skybow Solution Studio from one SharePoint site to another.

A common scenario is that a solution was initially built directly on a productive site and you later decide to introduce a proper Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) setup by creating a dedicated development site.

The approach described here is the recommended and safe way to restructure your solution without losing data and while preparing your environment for future enhancements and deployments.

Table of Contents

Scenario

  • You started building a solution on a productive SharePoint site.
  • You now want to:
    • Separate development and production
    • Introduce a structured ALM process
    • Continue evolving the solution safely

High-Level Concept

  1. Package the existing solution
  2. Create a new development site
  3. Create a new solution from the package on that site
  4. Replace the original production solution with deployments from the new development solution

Detailed Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Prepare and Package the Source Solution

Before migrating, ensure that the existing solution is self-contained.

  • Open the solution in skybow Solution Studio that is connected to the production site
  • Ensure the solution includes everything it depends on:
    • Lists and libraries
    • Content types and site columns
    • Forms, views, rules, and calculated fields
    • Workflows, scripts, custom actions, and integrations
    • Lookup and configuration lists

Best practice: If something is referenced, it must be part of the solution.

Create a package once the solution is complete.

 

Step 2: Share the Package with Yourself
  • Select the created package
  • Click on "Share" in the command bar
  • On the sharing dialog click on "Share with others" button and enter your email address that you've used to login to Solution Studio

 

This enables using the package as a template for new solutions.

Step 3: Create a New SharePoint Development Site
  • Go to the SharePoint Admin Center and create a new SharePoint site
  • Give it a clear development-related name
  • Ensure it is not used productively
  • Do not manually create lists or structures
Step 4: Create a New Solution from the Template
  • Create a new solution in skybow Solution Studio from the My Solutions Overview
  • Select Start from template → Shared Templates
  • Choose the package you shared earlier and click "Start from this template" in the right panel

This rebuilds the solution structure on the new development site.

Step 5: Configure and Create the Development Solution
  • Name the solution clearly (e.g. MySolution – DEV)
  • Enter the SharePoint Site URL of the development site
  • Choose a user who has full control on this site

 

  • Click "Next", pass the verification step and create the solution

From now on, this solution is the source of truth for further development.

Step 6: IMPORTANT: Fully Test the Development Solution
  • Create and edit items in all lists
  • Open every form
  • Trigger workflows and rules
  • Verify lookups, calculations, and integrations

If something is missing or broken:

  • Add the missing element to the original source solution
  • Delete the development solution and site
  • Restart from Step 1
Step 7: Create the First Package from the Development Solution
  • Create a package from the tested development solution
  • This package will be used to deploy to the production site
Step 8: Remove the Old Production Solution
  • Before you deploy to the production site, make sure to delete the original production solution
  • Enable Remove skybow customization from site

 

This removes all skybow configuration like forms, actions, SPFx solution etc. but keeps all SharePoint data.

Step 9: Deploy the Development Package to Production
  • Deploy the package from the development solution
  • During verification, existing lists and structures will be detected
  • Enable Force update

 

Force update does not overwrite data.
It updates structure, forms, views, rules, and configuration only.

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Result: A Proper ALM Setup

  • Development changes are done in the dev site
  • Packages are created from development
  • Production is updated via deployments

Additional Hints and Special Cases

Moving to Another Tenant
  • The same approach works across tenants
  • You have to trust skybow Solution Studio on the target tenant with a global admin to be able to use it there
Existing ALM – Changing the Development Site

If you have an existing Application Lifecycle with deployments in place, but you would like to move the development solution to another site or another tenant, it works similar, but you have to do the following steps:

  • Delete all deployments with "Remove skybow customization from site" option enabled first
  • Share the latest package with yourself as described in Step 2
  • Proceed with Steps 3-9
  • Testing as described in Step 6 is not that important as you already had a working deployment
  • In Step 8 delete the old development solution you'd like to move