How to perform operations if a command is not covered by the CLI for Microsoft 365
One of the most powerful tools a Microsoft 365 user has is the CLI for Microsoft 365. The command line allows any user to get a lot of things done in a fast way. There is no boundary to the number of things a seasoned user can do by merely using the CLI for Microsoft 365.
This script shows how to perform operations if a command is not covered by the CLI for Microsoft 365.
Right now, AttachmentFiles property associated with a SharePoint list item is not available in CLI for Microsoft 365, so we need to execute a separate query to /_api/web/lists/getByTitle('list-title')/items(item-id)/AttachmentFiles endpoint to get the item attachments.
To call AttachmentFiles endpoint, we must acquire an access token from the Microsoft identity platform. To do this we can use m365 util accesstoken get command and attach the access token with AttachmentFiles endpoint as shown in this script.
Prerequisites
- CLI for Microsoft 365
- SharePoint Online site with list item attachments
PowerShell Script
Function Get-ListAttachments() {
param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] [string] $AccessToken,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] [string] $SiteURL,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] [string] $ListTitle,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] [int] $ItemId
)
Try {
$ListItemAttachmentsEndPoint = "$($SiteURL)/_api/web/lists/getbytitle('$($ListTitle)')/items($($ItemId))/AttachmentFiles"
$Header = @{
"Authorization" = "Bearer $($AccessToken)"
"Accept" = "application/json; odata=verbose"
"Content-Type" = "application/json "
}
$ListItemAttachments = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $ListItemAttachmentsEndPoint -Headers $Header -Method Get
return $ListItemAttachments.d.results
}
Catch {
throw "Error Getting List Item Attachments! $($_.Exception.Message)"
}
}
Function Download-ListAttachments() {
param
(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] [string] $TenantName,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] [string] $SiteURL,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] [string] $ListTitle,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] [string] $DownloadDirectory
)
Try {
#Get All Items from the List
$ListItems = m365 spo listitem list --webUrl $SiteURL --title $ListTitle -o json | ConvertFrom-Json -AsHashtable
#Iterate through each list item
Foreach ($Item in $ListItems) {
Try {
Write-Output "Processing Item Id $($Item.Id)"
# Right now AttachmentFiles property is not available in cli-microsoft365 so we need to execute a separate query to /_api/web/lists/getByTitle('list-title')/items(item-id)/AttachmentFiles to get the item attachments.
# AttachmentFiles endpoint requires access token
$AccessToken = m365 util accesstoken get --resource "https://$($TenantName).sharepoint.com" --new
#Get All attachments from the List Item
$Attachments = Get-ListAttachments -AccessToken $AccessToken -SiteURL $SiteURL -ListTitle $ListTitle -ItemId $Item.Id
If ($Attachments.Length -gt 0) {
#Create directory for each list item if it doesn't exist
$TargetDownloadDirectory = "$($DownloadDirectory)/$($Item.Id)"
If (!(Test-Path -path $TargetDownloadDirectory)) { New-Item $TargetDownloadDirectory -type Directory | Out-Null }
foreach ($Attachment in $Attachments) {
Try {
Write-Output "Downloading $($Attachment.FileName)"
$TargetFilePath = "$($TargetDownloadDirectory)/$($Attachment.FileName)"
#Download attachment
m365 spo file get --webUrl $SiteURL --url $Attachment.ServerRelativeUrl --asFile --path $TargetFilePath
}
Catch {
Write-Error "Error Downloading This Attachment! $($_.Exception.Message)"
}
}
}
else {
Write-Warning "Attachments Not Found For This List Item!"
}
}
Catch {
Write-Error "Error Downloading This List Item Attachments! $($_.Exception.Message)"
}
}
}
Catch {
Write-Error "Error Downloading List Attachments! $($_.Exception.Message)"
}
}
#Set Parameters
$TenantName = "tenant-name"
$SiteRelativePath = "site-relative-path"
$ListTitle = "list-title"
$DownloadDirectory = "$($PSScriptRoot)/$($ListTitle)"
$SiteURL = "https://$($TenantName).sharepoint.com/$($SiteRelativePath)"
#Call the function to download list items attachments
Download-ListAttachments -TenantName $TenantName -SiteURL $SiteURL -ListTitle $ListTitle -DownloadDirectory $DownloadDirectory
Published on:
Learn moreWe can help you with How to perform operations if a command is not covered by the CLI for Microsoft 365
If you want help implementing, troubleshooting, or improving this product, contact us and we’ll point you in the right direction.
Related posts
Jev Does Not Paint: Putting TypeSafe in Front of Gemini
I wanted a reason to use TypeSafe that was not another chatbot wrapper. Most of the AI I wire into software still wants to talk. I needed some...
I Asked God to Hold My Hand
Almost 20 years ago, I was waiting outside my company to collect my documents and start my first IT job. I sat under a banyan tree. That day ...
Identity-Aware SRE Agents with kagent on Akamai LKE
I wanted a reason to put an AI agent in front of a real Kubernetes cluster and watch what happens when two different people ask it to fix the ...
Vasanam Studio: How I Built a Bible Verse Video Generator for My Church as a Hobby Project
Every morning at 5 AM, the women of my church gather for prayer. At the end of the session, our pastor’s wife shares a Bible verse and sends a...
The demo worked. That was the problem.
Over a weekend I built a small Kubernetes demo to play with zero trust. Three little services calling each other in a chain, a login page in f...
Notes from building an agent on AgentCore end to end
I wanted a reason to use AgentCore end to end. Runtime, memory, guardrails, identity, the whole thing. A Bible Q&A agent felt like a good ...
Building a Rust gRPC AI Security Gateway for LLM Traffic
I wanted a small, honest implementation of the GenAI governance shape in code: a component on every LLM call that applies policy first, option...
Claude Code Security: The Smart Way to Integrate AI
Anthropic just dropped Claude Code Security, and if you’re anywhere near AppSec or DevSecOps, you’ve probably already seen the debate lighting...
How I Built a Semantic Cache Using Only AWS Services
LLM calls are expensive and slow, but here’s the thing - users ask the same questions in different ways all the time. “What’s your refund poli...
How to Build Better AI Agent Tools: Cut Costs by 70% (MCP Server Case Study)
Building tools for AI agents isn’t the same as building regular APIs. This guide shows you how to design tools that reduce token costs by 60-7...