Sharepoint and Shared Drives

[Joanne]

I'm looking into moving our shared areas to Sharepoint.

 

I'm just messing around with a test area. I figure that you have sharepoint and no server because after doing some reading, I found out it wasn't possible to sync the server to the cloud... although I think it should be! Unless I use onedrive instead? But then that will probably get messy...

 

I've tried to map my sharepoint as a drive within file explorer, but I get an error saying it needs to be added as a trusted site (which it is) and then I need to set it to auto-login. Can't find anything for auto login...

 

currently this is all just a bit of messing. Mainly because the head has rubbish internet at home and the remote access is pretty much unusable for her.

 

Has anyone successfully swapped over to sharepoint for shared areas?

[snagrat]

Yes we have, but we use IAMCLOUD to do the drive Mappings.

[Joanne]

Cool. I've just started reading through this

 

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/ptsblog/2013/11/04/migrating-file-shares-to-sharepoint-online/

 

It does look like you have to use 3rd party stuff.

[DavidHolderness]

Some things to beware of when replacing shared areas with sharepoint:

 

1. Sharepoint isn't really the best document management system, and from my experience you will face a lot of resistance to its use. The fact you have to go through O365 was a particular point of contention for my staff.

2. Don't just map your shared area to a document library, you waste 99% of the functionality of sharepoint (also, you will very quickly hit the file limit for a document library). Instead, chunk it all out. I had the curriculum teams sort their documents out (e.g maths, science so on) and then provide them with their own sharepoint site to store it in. This will also allow them to sync the materials useful to them without syncing every last file (RIP your network!)

3. Once this chunking task was completed, using file explorer/mapping network drives allowed me to upload folder structures without hassle. To fufill the auto login issue, go to the page you wish to use file explorer for, copy the url, then log out. Paste the url back in and login through there making sure to tick the keep me signed in box as you go in. It's temperamental as anything could be so you have my sympathy for this.

 

It's a herculean task to be sure, and what summers were made for. sadly, some heads think its a simple copy/paste!

[xlandhenry]

Sharepoint should not be a replacement for your file shares, and the last thing you want to do is to map document libraries as networked drives as a long term solution, it's not meant to be used that way.

 

Plus I don't think moving to sharepoint will solve the problem(that the head has crappy internet at home)?

[Joanne]

Thanks. I'm wondering whether to just put on the Confidential Shared area that only 4 people access... I just don't know! Just exploring the possibilities at the moment.

 

I think this would be a lot easier with Google!!