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.