Better alternatives to file management in SharePoint and OneDrive

SharePoint is a powerful platform for document management — it’s the force behind Microsoft Teams and OneDrive. While SharePoint provides many benefits over storing files in file shares, accessing it using a web browser is a barrier to widespread user adoption.

If you work with files in SharePoint directly via a web browser, you are likely getting all the benefits of SharePoint, including:

• The ability to search based on document titles and content.
• Accessing files from any device.
• Improved sharing and co-authoring capabilities.
• The ability to check-in and check-out documents to prevent changes while working.
• Applying custom metadata to files to improve filtering and search capabilities.
• Feature-rich version history, allowing users to view and restore previous versions of files.

These document management features are intrinsic to how we collaborate on files today, and it’s why SharePoint and being able to access them from anywhere via a browser or Teams is crucial to run a business effectively.

The drawback of browser-based navigation in SharePoint

While SharePoint provides many benefits to file management over file shares, one major drawback to using it in the browser is the need for easy visual navigation of your SharePoint structure. This is particularly the case when working in different document sites and libraries, or even other SharePoint Online tenants or on-premises servers when you want to drag and drop to move or copy content from one location to another. This needs for more familiar navigation is often why users revert to using file shares or OneDrive Sync to continue to work using a Windows Explorer-like interface.

So why not just use OneDrive Sync instead? While this addresses the navigation and familiar Windows Explorer-like interface, it also has shortcomings.

Limitations of using OneDrive Sync for SharePoint navigation

Synchronising libraries to your local computer using OneDrive Sync is a great way to overcome SharePoint navigation limitations. It allows you to access your files in SharePoint using Windows Explorer for a more familiar navigation experience. It also allows you to work with files while you are offline.

However, when working with synchronised folders and files using Windows Explorer, you will have to deal with several hurdles, including:

• Occasional synchronisation failures.
• Ensuring you have a compatible browser installed.
• Clearing your OneDrive credentials cache after changing your password.
• Limitations on the size of files that can be uploaded.

Most importantly, you cannot access all the extended functionality that SharePoint provides when using a browser, such as check-in, check-out and assigning metadata.

This makes selecting either approach a compromise. But what if another alternative could provide the best of both?

An alternative solution: MacroView DMS Explorer

MacroView DMS includes a Windows Explorer-like interface for working with the contents of SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive for Business. Not only does it look and feel like Windows Explorer, but it also accesses files directly from SharePoint, eliminating any synchronisation issues, and it surfaces all the powerful functionality of SharePoint in an easy-to-access right-click menu.

MacroView DMS lets you see all your SharePoint sites and Teams in a single tree view across multiple SharePoint tenants, on-premises SharePoint servers and OneDrive for Business. It also provides the same explorer-like integration between Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat/Reader and Outlook with SharePoint and Teams, allowing you to work from wherever you want.

Best of all, using MacroView DMS Explorer does not change how a file is stored in SharePoint, allowing you to access it from a browser or even synchronised OneDrive folders if needed.

Speak with MacroView about how our document and email management, document generation and brand compliance solutions can supercharge productivity when working with Microsoft 365.