How to Move Azure Storage Blobs Between Containers in Azure Portal

Azure Storage Blobs provides scalable and secure object storage solutions for our applications. At times, we may need to move blobs between containers within the same storage account. The Azure Portal provides an intuitive interface to accomplish this without writing code. This article demonstrates how to move Azure Storage Blobs between containers using the Azure Portal.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that we have:

• An active Azure subscription.
• A Storage Account with at least two containers (Follow the steps below to create one).
• The necessary RBAC permissions (Storage Blob Data Contributor or higher) to manage blobs.

Creating a Storage Account with at Least Two Containers

1. Create a Storage Account

1. Sign in to Azure Portal.
2. In the search bar, type Storage accounts and click on Create.
3. Select our Subscription and Resource Group.
4. Enter a unique Storage account name.
5. Choose the Region, Performance, and Redundancy options as per our requirements.
6. Click Review + Create, then Create.
   

2. Create Two Containers

1. Open our newly created Storage Account.
2. In the left-hand menu, select Containers under the Data Storage section.
3. Click on + Container.
4. Enter a Name for the container and select the Public access level.
5. Click Create.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 to create a second container.
   

Steps to Move Blobs Between Containers

1. Sign in to the Azure Portal

1. Navigate to Azure Portal.
2. In the search bar, type Storage accounts and select our storage account.

2. Open the Blob Storage

1. In the left-hand menu, select Containers under the Storage browser section.
2. Click on the container where the blobs currently reside.

3. Select the Blob(s) to Move

1. In the container, locate and select the blob(s) we want to move.
2. Click on the Copy button from the top menu.
   

4. Choose the Destination Container

1. Navigate back to the Containers section.
2. Open the target container where you want to move the blobs.
3. Click on Paste in the top menu.
   

5. Delete the Original Blob (Optional)

Once the blob is copied successfully to the new container, we can delete the original blob to complete the move operation.

1. Go back to the source container.
2. Select the copied blob and click Delete.

Alternative: Using Azure Storage Explorer

If we need to move multiple blobs efficiently, consider using Azure Storage Explorer, which provides a drag-and-drop interface for bulk operations.

Conclusion

Moving blobs between containers in Azure Portal is straightforward using the Copy and Paste approach. However, for large-scale operations, consider using Azure Storage Explorer or Azure CLI/Azure PowerShell for automation.