Office365 / SharePoint: A File Migration
FrameworkVictoria Office 365 Users Group
January 2016
Gerry Brimacombe, Lightlever Systems Inc.
Servers (M: K: etc)
DropBox and other sources
Personal Shares
Copy / move
Copy / move
Copy / move
What are we trying to accomplish?
People work here Instead
So What’s the BIG DEAL?• EASY: Move or copy files to SharePoint!• Is it that EASY?• Files from where? Servers, local drives, DropBox, legacy
intranet, email, websites?....• All files or just some?• Just files, or other content?• Are file names compatible? Or desirable (e.g. spaces and other
conventions)?• Are folders too deep? Are we even using folders? [insert two
hour discussion on metadata vs. folders here]• What about changing people’s behaviour?
File Migration – NON TECHNICAL ISSUES• Sheer dumb Volume!• Messy / deep folder structures.• People are busy• Resistance to Change• Network speeds• Setting Metadata
File Migration – TECHNICAL ISSUES• Invalid characters in filenames• Undesirable Spaces in files names• Path or Filename too long• Blocked file types (*.json, *.soap, etc)• Limitations of OneDrive for Business (5k
files per library, 20k total)• File size (SP2013 default 250MB; max
2GB)• Modified dates not migrated
Max Folder Length
250
Max Filename Length
256(128 for SharePoint 2013)
Max Folder+File Length
250
Undesirable Characters
#&*/
{|?\
}~+<
>%`.....
Migration Plan
Approve Plan
Capture File
Listings
Select Subset of
Files
Copy to Staging
Clean Up in
Staging
Move to Share-Point
Set Servers Read-only
Add Metadat
a
File Migration Tips• This will take time!• Must involve the users or becomes GIGO• Create Staging area to allow users to “clean-up”
without impacting day-to-day• Note the date you copied to staging• Delete old versions• Create newer, better, flatter folder structure• Standardize names• Move files in from a number of locations
• Create document libraries, with permissions!• You can often “net use” to map a drive to SharePoint document library, then
xcopy or robocopy work well• Lock down servers, but don’t delete so historical data is there (comfy feeling).
Setting Metadata• Expectations Management: this will be onerous, but
important!• Do not set any metadata as MANDATORY prior to file load.• If using folders with Metadata, can you set defaults by
folder? (Column Default Value Settings)• After loading files, use Quick Edit (datasheet view) to set lots
of data.• Change Metadata to Mandatory as required/desired
Servers (M: K: etc)
DropBox and other sources
Personal Shares
Copy / move
Copy / move
Copy / move
Remember This?
People work here Instead
Servers (M: K: etc)
DropBox and other sources
Staging(temporary)
Personal Shares
Direct copy and updates (if necessary)
copy
move
Clean-up
copy
copy
Here’s one Way
Check/Set Metadata
Migration Tools (Not an exhaustive list, by any means) Tool Pros Cons
EasyFix Tool to rename files SimpleFree
Fairly limited
Drag and Drop in Browser Super EasyFree
Can’t drop foldersLose modified dates
Drag and Drop using Windows Explorer
EasyFree
Lose modified datesHard to capture errors (recopy)100 files at a time
Lightlever Excel-based tool Pretty easyFreeCan capture LogCan rename files
Lose modified datesCan be confusingChallenges with WebDAV connections
ShareGate Lots of power and functionalityQuite User FriendlyRetains modification dates
Annual license (US$4k/year/user)
AvePoint, Metalogix, Metavis, etc.
Super powerfulMany featuresIncremental migrationsetc.
Very ExpensiveCan be complex to set upFeatures we don’t need (migration workflows, etc)
BUSINESS ANALYSIS Requirements gathering Business case for cloud IT Improve business processes Evaluate technology
SHAREPOINT SOLUTIONS Corporate portals Document management Custom lists and libraries Electronic forms SharePoint Training
PROJECT MANAGEMENT Develop project plans Run projects efficiently Build project management office Project Management Coaching
Other Content Migration Examples• Contact List• Copy from AD• Copy/Paste in SharePoint• Or Drag and Drop in Outlook
• Policy Manual or Employee Handbook •Word to Wiki in 1 hour• See how to blog post
Demo of Migration Tool• Command prompt file dump• Set variables and transformations• Filter and Sort• Select files / folders to keep• Produce and run command files
File Migration Using Excel Tool• Command Line Directory Listing: Paste into
Excel file migration tool• Tool strips out invalided characters (including
spaces if you want)• Changes to CamelCase, where spaces present.• Shows file and path length• Can filter records by date, size, type,
folder, etc.• Generate Commands • Put commands in Batch file, and run
References• https://
support.office.com/en-ca/article/invalid-characters-in-file-or-folder-names-or-invalid-file-types-in-onedrive-for-business-64883a5d-228e-48f5-b3d2-eb39e07630fa• https://
support.office.com/en-ca/article/Types-of-files-that-cannot-be-added-to-a-list-or-library-30be234d-e551-4c2a-8de8-f8546ffbf5b3• http://
sharepoint-community.net/profiles/blogs/sharepoint-comparison-matrix-for-3rd-party-migration-tools• http://lightlever.ca/convert-document-to-sharepoint-wiki/