- Map Your Sharepoint Document Library As A Network Drive
- Sharepoint Document Library Template
- Map Sharepoint Document Library As Network Drive Windows 10
Use the drive mapping tool in File/Windows Explorer and select the option 'Connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures'. – joeqwerty Mar 18 '16 at 19:30 2 @joeqwerty, in fact, you can, as long as there's a WebDAV server running behind that URL (i.e. SharePoint) and WebClient service running on the workstation. Mapping a Document Library to a Network Drive. We have been having a number of users reporting that their mapped drives for SharePoint Document Libraries have stopped working since the end of July. I have been recommending that people use the 'Pin' method instead, but users are saying this doesn't work for them either, plus the Pin only works.
- 10/05/2018
- Posted by: Sheryl Newman
- Categories:
Most of our conversations with prospective clients go like this… we've got Office 365 and we have mapped our network drives to SharePoint…
Many of the companies we talk to are migrating their documentation from existing network drives into SharePoint. So what often happens is the IT provider or internal resource will transfer their documentation from the network drive into a single document library or sub sites which are then mapped as a network drive.
Most of us have grown up with folders, we are comfortable using the File Explorer interface and it's just easy, right?
But what if there was a way that could work and gets everyone happy moving to a new way of working?
Connecting network shares to a platform like Office 365 without detailed planning is the potential equivalent of having a root canal without an anaesthetic, painful and often doesn't offer the best long-term results. This isn't how SharePoint was designed to be used. Here are 5 some reasons we think why:
1. TECHNICAL ISSUES
Planning from the start is really important. There are a few issues within SharePoint that if you don't know the product well you wont be aware of:
- 5,000 item limit on a document library which needs to be taken into consideration for your end users. We will provide more information on this in another post.
URL length. - If you have a very deep folder hierarchy this can cause quite a lot of issues. Microsoft have written an article on it and you can find out more here
- As your libraries grow larger degraded performance will become an issue.
Modern lists finally address the dreaded '5,000 item view limit' that has frustrated SharePoint users for years. It does this by automatically creating indexes as they're needed, based on user interaction. It's not perfect, but for most situations it removes this pain point.
2. USER EXPERIENCE AND ADOPTION
The best practice in SharePoint is to create many sites and many libraries as you split content by function and security. You also have ability to utilise some great features such as views, version history, email alerts etc.
The initial change management aspect of making that change for some organisations can be too difficult. Using the file explorer for day to day operations is an easy first step but our recommendation would be to move into the browser, especially if you work between different devices the libraries won't be mapped. This creates a change from a shared network drive type environment to a SharePoint centred environment.
For easy user adoption when being introduced to SharePoint, If a library is mapped as a drive, for day to day operational activities having a mapped drive, allows easy immediate access to open and save your field directly in the open/save Explorer window that opens up. Then for more advanced activities such as versioning and assigning metadata this can then be done in SharePoint. There is also the option to sync which works with both OneDrive and SharePoint which makes a library of certain files and folders available on your desktop. Do remember, if you have low space on your PC you won't have the capacity to work offline. The official guidance is to sync no more than 300,000 files across all document libraries. Additionally, the same performance issues can occur if you have 300,000 items or more across all libraries you are syncing, even if you are not synching all items in those libraries.
The introduction of the modern document library in SharePoint online also provides a good user experience with improved copy and paste functionality. The classic view is very limited. However, with the new modern library you can do the same things you used to do in Windows Explorer. Files, folders, sites and libraries can all be moved from within the browser.
If you just use file explorer, then you don't get the benefits of metadata. Tagging (adding keywords to documents) and taxonomies (whole structure of your metadata) are very useful in publishing environments where files need to be controlled and catalogued.
Have you ever tried to move a file in classic SharePoint? It's nearly impossible and is one of many things made easy in the modern version.
The explorer view does for sure allow an easy way of drag and dropping and allows you to bring your files into SharePoint easily. The issue is though if someone other than the creator moves the files or modifies the files the created by and modified by date will change to the date and time that it was moved. This affects everything, documentation, workflow or any automation.
The new modern search is also really good and works well. It will search any content within the document as well as tagged metadata. Alternatively if searching a mapped drive you are using the Windows Explorer search.
It's so easy isn't it to save documents directly onto your C:Drive as you can browse quickly and easily to the folder you need or want. Recent updates to Microsoft Office have allowed the ability to save as directly into SharePoint. More information on this to come in another blog post.
5. VERSIONING & CO - AUTHORING FUNCTIONALITY
Versioning, in our opinion, is one of SharePoint strongest features. It offers the ability to see and track changes, ability to access and restore previous versions. People want to collaborate that's how they work and this offers the ability to do this. However, this only works if you use SharePoint. If you use mapped SharePoint drives, those features are not accessible through Windows Explorer.
If we can provide guidance or if you would like to chat further about using Office 365 to its best advantage we'd love to hear from you.
Visit our website to find out more useful solutions and services from Chiron Consulting https://chironusa.com/
There are always some concerns with OneDrive sync client, because
- Sometimes it's unstable
- Performance issues
- It's just doesn't work for some scenarios
- Users don't want to study a new way to access data
So the alternative solution might be to create a mapped drive from SharePoint document library
Here are the steps you should take to make a proper configurations
Start 'Web-client' service
To be sure that mapped drives will reconnect automatically after user's machine reboot 'Web-client' service should be started on the user's machine and start mode should be set to 'Automatic'
Login into SharePoint Online via Internet Explore
A user should log in into SharePoint online portal via Internet Explorer Browser.
Most of us have grown up with folders, we are comfortable using the File Explorer interface and it's just easy, right?
But what if there was a way that could work and gets everyone happy moving to a new way of working?
Connecting network shares to a platform like Office 365 without detailed planning is the potential equivalent of having a root canal without an anaesthetic, painful and often doesn't offer the best long-term results. This isn't how SharePoint was designed to be used. Here are 5 some reasons we think why:
1. TECHNICAL ISSUES
Planning from the start is really important. There are a few issues within SharePoint that if you don't know the product well you wont be aware of:
- 5,000 item limit on a document library which needs to be taken into consideration for your end users. We will provide more information on this in another post.
URL length. - If you have a very deep folder hierarchy this can cause quite a lot of issues. Microsoft have written an article on it and you can find out more here
- As your libraries grow larger degraded performance will become an issue.
Modern lists finally address the dreaded '5,000 item view limit' that has frustrated SharePoint users for years. It does this by automatically creating indexes as they're needed, based on user interaction. It's not perfect, but for most situations it removes this pain point.
2. USER EXPERIENCE AND ADOPTION
The best practice in SharePoint is to create many sites and many libraries as you split content by function and security. You also have ability to utilise some great features such as views, version history, email alerts etc.
The initial change management aspect of making that change for some organisations can be too difficult. Using the file explorer for day to day operations is an easy first step but our recommendation would be to move into the browser, especially if you work between different devices the libraries won't be mapped. This creates a change from a shared network drive type environment to a SharePoint centred environment.
For easy user adoption when being introduced to SharePoint, If a library is mapped as a drive, for day to day operational activities having a mapped drive, allows easy immediate access to open and save your field directly in the open/save Explorer window that opens up. Then for more advanced activities such as versioning and assigning metadata this can then be done in SharePoint. There is also the option to sync which works with both OneDrive and SharePoint which makes a library of certain files and folders available on your desktop. Do remember, if you have low space on your PC you won't have the capacity to work offline. The official guidance is to sync no more than 300,000 files across all document libraries. Additionally, the same performance issues can occur if you have 300,000 items or more across all libraries you are syncing, even if you are not synching all items in those libraries.
The introduction of the modern document library in SharePoint online also provides a good user experience with improved copy and paste functionality. The classic view is very limited. However, with the new modern library you can do the same things you used to do in Windows Explorer. Files, folders, sites and libraries can all be moved from within the browser.
If you just use file explorer, then you don't get the benefits of metadata. Tagging (adding keywords to documents) and taxonomies (whole structure of your metadata) are very useful in publishing environments where files need to be controlled and catalogued.
Have you ever tried to move a file in classic SharePoint? It's nearly impossible and is one of many things made easy in the modern version.
The explorer view does for sure allow an easy way of drag and dropping and allows you to bring your files into SharePoint easily. The issue is though if someone other than the creator moves the files or modifies the files the created by and modified by date will change to the date and time that it was moved. This affects everything, documentation, workflow or any automation.
The new modern search is also really good and works well. It will search any content within the document as well as tagged metadata. Alternatively if searching a mapped drive you are using the Windows Explorer search.
It's so easy isn't it to save documents directly onto your C:Drive as you can browse quickly and easily to the folder you need or want. Recent updates to Microsoft Office have allowed the ability to save as directly into SharePoint. More information on this to come in another blog post.
5. VERSIONING & CO - AUTHORING FUNCTIONALITY
Versioning, in our opinion, is one of SharePoint strongest features. It offers the ability to see and track changes, ability to access and restore previous versions. People want to collaborate that's how they work and this offers the ability to do this. However, this only works if you use SharePoint. If you use mapped SharePoint drives, those features are not accessible through Windows Explorer.
If we can provide guidance or if you would like to chat further about using Office 365 to its best advantage we'd love to hear from you.
Visit our website to find out more useful solutions and services from Chiron Consulting https://chironusa.com/
There are always some concerns with OneDrive sync client, because
- Sometimes it's unstable
- Performance issues
- It's just doesn't work for some scenarios
- Users don't want to study a new way to access data
So the alternative solution might be to create a mapped drive from SharePoint document library
Here are the steps you should take to make a proper configurations
Start 'Web-client' service
To be sure that mapped drives will reconnect automatically after user's machine reboot 'Web-client' service should be started on the user's machine and start mode should be set to 'Automatic'
Login into SharePoint Online via Internet Explore
A user should log in into SharePoint online portal via Internet Explorer Browser.
IMPORTANT!
It's important that user use exactly Internet Explorer Browser at this step.
And 'Stay Signed In' option should be enabled in the tenant. It's required to click 'Yes' when the prompt will appear.
Open SP library in explorer
To avoid any errors for a future it's recommended that user open default SP online library with file explorer.
Map Your Sharepoint Document Library As A Network Drive
- To do it user should navigate to a documents library on your tenant.
For example: ‘your tenant URL is here'/Documents
so it should look like this: https://tenant.sharepoint.com/Documents - If a user has 'Modern Experience'
- He should click on 'All Documents' in the right corner
- Click 'View in File Explorer'
- A new File explorer window will open
- User can close the explorer window
- If user has 'Classic Experience'
- He should click on 'Library' tab in the top ribbon menu
- And click 'Open in Explorer' button
- A new File explorer window will be opened
- User can close the explorer window
Add site to trusted sites list
To avoid errors like 'Access Denied' in the future you need to add your SP tenant to trusted sites inside Internet Explorer Browser.
This can be configured with GPO as well.
- Login to your SharePoint environment
- Go to IE browser settings --> Internet Options
- Click on 'Security' tab
- Click on Trusted Sites icon --> Sites button
- Add SP site address to the Trusted sites
- Click Ok
Connect drives via 'net use' statement
Net use statement should be used to connect drives from SharePoint.
.bat file can be used for this purpose as well.
Command should be executed via Command Prompt and looks like this:
It will map this document library to users machine: https://bainbridgere.sharepoint.com/sites/SharePoint/Finance/Projects
Sharepoint Document Library Template
IMPORTANT! The command is case-sensitive, so be sure to double-check the path you enter.
Check if drives working
After all, drives have been mapped it's a good idea to reboot a machine and check if drives connected after reboot automatically.
Known errors:
Map Sharepoint Document Library As Network Drive Windows 10
- Error 53, path wasn't found
To fix this error double check the URL you are entering
and be sure that you executed steps described in 'Open SP library in explorer' paragraph. - Error 224, Access denied
To fix this error you need to be sure that user has access to the site where SP library located. It's a good idea to open the library you are trying to connect from Internet Explorer and check if a user has access to it.
Also, be sure that you executed steps described in 'Add site to trusted in IE' paragraph. - Other errors
If you faced any other error you can check your Antivirus software settings to be sure it's not blocking a connection
and check Firewall settings. It's recommended to turn off the Firewall.
