2026-03-28 · HashTurn Team

How to Copy a SharePoint Site: Theme, Navigation, Lists & Homepage (Complete Guide)

SharePointPower AutomatePnP PowerShellSite TemplateNavigation CopySharePoint ThemeMac PowerShell

The Goal

You have an existing SharePoint site and want to copy it exactly to a new site — including:

✅ Site branding and theme (colors)
✅ Navigation menu (simple links + list-based links)
✅ The actual list referenced in navigation
✅ Homepage content

There is no single "clone site" button in SharePoint. This guide covers the most reliable hybrid approach, common errors, and the honest truth about what works on Mac.

Why This Is Harder Than It Sounds

SharePoint doesn't offer a native one-click site copy. Different elements require different tools:

Element	Site Script	PnP Template	Manual
Theme / Colors	✅	✅	✅ (2 min)
Navigation links	✅	✅	⚠️
List schema	✅	✅	—
List data	❌	✅	—
Homepage content	❌	✅	⚠️

The most complete solution combines PnP PowerShell for template extraction and Power Automate for ongoing list and navigation copying.

Option A — PnP PowerShell (Most Complete)

This single approach captures theme, navigation, lists, pages, and site settings in one go.

Step 1 — Install PnP PowerShell

On Mac (you must use PowerShell 7, not the default Terminal):

# Install Homebrew if you don't have it
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install PowerShell 7
brew install --cask powershell

# Launch PowerShell
pwsh

# Inside PowerShell, install the PnP module
Install-Module PnP.PowerShell -Scope CurrentUser -Force

Verify installation:

Get-Module PnP.PowerShell -ListAvailable

You should see version information if installation succeeded.

Step 2 — Connect to Your Source Site (Mac-Compatible)

⚠️ On Mac with PnP PowerShell v3.x, -Interactive and -UseWebLogin are not supported. Use -DeviceLogin instead.

# Device login — PowerShell gives you a code to enter at microsoft.com/devicelogin
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/SourceSite" -DeviceLogin

When prompted, open https://microsoft.com/devicelogin in your browser, enter the code shown in PowerShell, and sign in with your Microsoft 365 account.

Step 3 — Extract the Site Template

# Extract everything
Get-PnPSiteTemplate -Out "SiteTemplate.xml" -Handlers All

# Or extract specific elements only
Get-PnPSiteTemplate -Out "SiteTemplate.xml" -Handlers Lists,Navigation,Theme,Pages,SiteSecurity

Step 4 — Apply to the New Site

# Connect to target site
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/NewSite" -DeviceLogin

# Apply the extracted template
Invoke-PnPSiteTemplate -Path "SiteTemplate.xml"

Option B — Site Script via REST API + Power Automate

This is the approach using SharePoint REST API HTTP requests — your original method.

The "Parameter Title Does Not Exist" Error — Root Cause

This error occurs because of incorrect request body formatting. Your HTTP request body must include __metadata and use the exact header format.

Correct body for creating a navigation node:

{
  "__metadata": { "type": "SP.NavigationNode" },
  "Title": "Your Nav Item Title",
  "Url": "https://yoursite.com/path",
  "IsExternal": false
}

Required headers:

Key	Value
`Accept`	`application/json;odata=verbose`
`Content-Type`	`application/json;odata=verbose`

Missing either the __metadata property or the correct headers is what causes the title parameter error.

Extract Site Script via REST API

In Power Automate, use Send an HTTP request to SharePoint:

Field	Value
Site Address	Your source site URL
Method	`POST`
URI	`_api/Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.WebTemplateExtensions.SiteScriptUtility.GetSiteScriptFromWeb`
Headers	`Accept: application/json;odata=verbose`, `Content-Type: application/json;odata=verbose`
Body	`{"info": {"IncludedLists": ["YourListName"], "IncludeTheme": true, "IncludeNavigation": true}}`

Create Site Script

Field	Value
Method	`POST`
URI	`_api/Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.WebTemplateExtensions.SiteScriptUtility.CreateSiteScript(Title=@title)?@title='My Site Script'`
Body	Output from the previous step

Copy List Data via Power Automate

For copying actual list items (which site scripts don't handle):

Get items from source — SharePoint → Get items from source list
Apply to each — loop through each item
Create item in target — SharePoint → Create item in destination list

Option C — Power Automate Flow for Navigation Copy

To copy navigation items via Power Automate HTTP actions:

Copy a Simple Navigation Link

Action: Send an HTTP request to SharePoint

Field	Value
Site Address	Target site URL
Method	`POST`
URI	`_api/web/navigation/quicklaunch`
Body	`{"__metadata": {"type": "SP.NavigationNode"}, "Title": "Your Link Title", "Url": "/sites/NewSite/your-page", "IsExternal": false}`

Copy a List-Based Navigation Item

First get the list URL from the source, then create the navigation node pointing to it:

{
  "__metadata": { "type": "SP.NavigationNode" },
  "Title": "My List",
  "Url": "/sites/NewSite/Lists/YourListName/AllItems.aspx",
  "IsExternal": false
}

Copy the Homepage

Get source homepage content — HTTP GET to _api/web/rootfolder/welcomepage
Get page content — HTTP GET to the page's REST endpoint
Update target homepage — HTTP POST to set the welcome page on the target site

Mac-Specific Troubleshooting

Error: `-Interactive` / `-UseWebLogin` not recognized

These parameters were removed or changed in PnP PowerShell v3.x. Use -DeviceLogin or -PnPManagementShell instead:

# Most reliable on Mac with v3.x
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/SiteName" -DeviceLogin

Error: "Please specify a valid client id for an Entra ID App Registration"

PnP PowerShell v2+ requires an Azure AD App Registration for some authentication methods. For testing, -DeviceLogin bypasses this requirement.

Error: `Set-PnPTheme: A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'Identity'`

The parameter changed between versions. Use:

# Correct for PnP PowerShell v3.x
$theme = Get-PnPTheme
Set-PnPTheme -Theme $theme

Version Check

Get-Module PnP.PowerShell -ListAvailable

If you see version 3.1.0 — several parameters differ from the documentation written for v1/v2. Update if possible:

Update-Module PnP.PowerShell -Force

How to Test Without a Client Site

If you don't have access to the source site yet, build and test your flow against your own test sites.

15-Minute Test Setup

Step 1 — Create a source test site (5 min)

Go to SharePoint → Create Site → Team Site
Name it FlowTestSource
Change the theme: Settings → Change the look
Add navigation items: Settings → Site settings → Navigation
Create a simple list with 3–5 items

Step 2 — Create a target test site (2 min)

Create another site: FlowTestTarget
Leave it completely blank

Step 3 — Run your flow (8 min)

Point your flow variables to FlowTestSource and FlowTestTarget
Run and verify each element copies correctly

When the flow works on test sites, switching to the client site is just two variable changes.

The Honest Recommendation

If you're on Mac and new to PowerShell, the authentication troubleshooting alone can consume hours. Here's the pragmatic breakdown:

Task	Use PowerShell	Do Manually
Theme / colors	Possible but tricky on Mac	✅ 2 minutes via browser
Navigation copy	Possible	⚠️ Manual for small sites
List schema	Best option	—
List data	Best option	—
Homepage	PnP template	⚠️ Manual copy/paste

For a simple site with a small number of items: Copy the theme manually (Settings → Change the look), use Power Automate for lists and navigation, and copy the homepage web parts manually. This saves hours compared to troubleshooting PowerShell authentication on Mac.

For a complex site or a repeatable process: Invest time in getting PnP PowerShell working with -DeviceLogin. Once connected, the template extraction takes under a minute.

Complete Flow Architecture

Phase 1 — Site Structure
  Extract site script (REST API or PnP)
  Apply site design to new site
        ↓
Phase 2 — Theme (choose one)
  PnP: Get-PnPTheme → Set-PnPTheme
  OR Manual: Settings → Change the look (2 min)
        ↓
Phase 3 — Navigation (Power Automate)
  HTTP POST to /api/web/navigation/quicklaunch
  One action per nav item
        ↓
Phase 4 — List Copy (Power Automate)
  Get items from source list
  Apply to each → Create item in target list
        ↓
Phase 5 — Homepage
  Get source page content via REST
  Apply to target site welcome page

Key Takeaways

There is no single "clone site" feature in SharePoint — a hybrid approach is required
The "parameter title does not exist" error means your HTTP body is missing __metadata or the wrong headers
On Mac with PnP PowerShell v3.x, use -DeviceLogin — not -Interactive or -UseWebLogin
Theme copying manually takes 2 minutes — don't spend hours on PowerShell authentication just for the theme
Build and test against your own test sites before touching any client data
Switching from test to client sites requires changing just two URL variables