Add-PnPFile – format-default : The collection has not been initialized

Today I tried to upload a document to SharePoint Online using the Add-PnPFile command from the PnP PowerShell.

Add-PnPFile -Path $path/DocumentTemplates/MyTemplate.docx -Folder DocumentTemplates -Web $web -Values @{Title="MyTemplate";FileLeafRef="MyTemplate.docx"}

This resulted into

format-default : The collection has not been initialized. It has not been requested or the request has not been executed. It may need to be explicitly requested.

Then when I ran the script again with a breakpoint set on the Add-PnPFile. When my PowerShell ISE waited I ran the Add-PnPFile command manually. No errors would appear. 

The above error means that some data can’t be displayed, but why not if it can display it when I run the command manually.

Then Erwin van Hunen gave me the answer.

$spfile = Add-PnPFile -Path $path/DocumentTemplates/MyTemplate.docx -Folder DocumentTemplates -Web $web -Values @{Title="MyTemplate";FileLeafRef="MyTemplate.docx"}

Now the object is set in the variable $spfile and the error doesn’t appear anymore.

Pieter Veenstra

Is your business still running on paper trails, sprawling Excel files, or ageing Access databases? There's a better way — and I can show you exactly what it looks like. I'm the Technical Director of Vantage 365, a Microsoft solutions consultancy working with clients across the UK, the Netherlands, and worldwide. For over 30 years I've been turning messy, manual business processes into clean, automated systems that save time, reduce errors, and give teams the visibility they need to make better decisions. SharePains is not just any blog run by a Microsoft MVP. Have you ever used Try-Catch in Power Automate? The original post about Try-Catch in Power Automate can still be found on this site, https://sharepains.com/2018/02/07/try-catch-finally-in-power-automate-flow/ Or have you ever used the Pieter’s method to avoid variables and speed up your flows? https://sharepains.com/2020/03/11/pieters-method-for-advanced-in-flows/ You can contact me using contact@sharepains.com