SharePoint

Files.com's integration with Sharepoint allows you to integrate with SharePoint in several different ways.

Files.com's Remote Server Mount feature gives you the ability connect a specific folder on Files.com to the remote server in a real time manner.

That folder then becomes a client, or window, accessing the files stored in your remote server or cloud.

Once you configure a Mount, any operation you perform on or inside that folder will act directly on the remote in real time. Whether you are dropping a file into that folder, deleting a file, creating a subfolder, or performing any other file/folder operations your Files.com user has permissions for, those operations will "pass through" to the remote in real time.

This powerful feature enables a wide variety of use cases such as accessing files on a counterparty (client or vendor)'s cloud without provisioning individual access to individual users, reducing storage costs by leveraging on-premise or bulk storage solutions, enabling applications to access 3rd party clouds via Files.com API, FTP, SFTP, or Files.com Apps and many more.

Alternatively, Files.com's Remote Server Sync feature give you the ability to push or pull files to or from remote servers. This means that the files will exist in both places at the end of the sync process.

A remote sync can be a "push", where files from your Files.com site are transferred to the remote server, a "pull" where files are transferred from the remote server to your Files.com site, or a two-way "sync" where files that are new or changed in either location are pushed and pulled to maintain a synchronized state between the folder on your Files.com site and that on the remote server.

Type Remote servers in the search box at the top of every page, and then click on the matching result. Click the Add new remote server button and select SharePoint.

Enter a descriptive name for the "Internal name for this connection" field, and Save.

Once your Remote Server is added, you can use it as either a Remote Server Mount or Remote Server Sync.

You can create as many SharePoint Remote Servers as required. Repeat the above instructions and enter different credentials each time the Microsoft login page is presented.

However, if you are using Single-Sign-On (SSO) with Microsoft then your web browser will always try and log you in using your currently logged-in credentials. The popup Microsoft login page will automatically log you in without giving you the option to enter different credentials. This is normal web SSO behavior. If you have this issue, you can try to circumvent the Single-Sign-On by logging out of Microsoft within your web browser prior to connecting the new Remote Server, use an incognito web browser window or use a different computer and web browser that hasn't logged into Microsoft yet.

Remote Server Mounts are created by mounting them onto an empty folder in Files.com. This folder should ideally not be the Root of your site, although that is supported if you need it.

From the Files icon on the left, navigate to the location where you want the mounted folder to be and create a new folder. Navigate into the newly created folder and click the Folder Settings button on the top right.

Select Remote Server Mount from the list and click Add new remote server mount button. Select the remote server.

Choose the Remote folder, which is the portion of the remote file system that will be mounted into this folder on Files.com. You can either by leave the default " / " (i.e., the remote server's root directory) or click on Choose a different folder link and navigate to the remote folder you want to this folder to connect to. You can also manually enter the full path to a SharePoint folder. This is useful for hidden sites within SharePoint that aren't presented to Files.com via their API.

After saving the configuration, the folder will reload and immediately list the remote folders/files from the selected remote path.

If you instead prefer to do a Sync with the remote, follow these directions.

1. From Files, navigate into the folder where you would like to add the remote server sync and click Folder settings > Sync to/from remote server.
2. Click the Add new remote server sync button to reveal the form.
3. Select the server you would like to transfer to or from by clicking on the Remote server menu.

Next choose your Sync direction. You have three choices:

1. Push to the remote server: This option uploads files and folders from your designated folder in your Files.com site to the remote server.
2. Pull from the remote server: This option downloads files from the remote server and saves them in your designated folder in your Files.com site.
3. Two-way sync: this option checks for new files, deleted files, and changed modification dates on both servers and then pushes and pulls as needed to keep the folders synchronized on both servers.

You have the option to delete files on the source server after a push or pull. Use the After copying menu to select whether you would like files that are successfully transferred to be deleted from or kept on the source server.

Enter the remote path to or from which you would like files and folders transferred, starting after the folder/directory your remote user lands in upon authentication.

For example: if the remote server has a folder structure folderA/folderB/folderC, and the user credentials that you have configured your sync server to log in with automatically land that user inside folderA, then to properly configure your sync folder behavior to transfer files to or from folderC, you would enter the path as folderB/folderC.

Be aware of case sensitivity differences when copying, moving, or syncing files and folders between SharePoint and other storage locations. Sharepoint is a case insensitive system whereas other systems may be case sensitive. This can cause files to be overwritten, and folders to have their contents merged, if their case insensitive names are a match.

Certain remotes that use OAuth for authentication may require regular rotation of your credentials. When this is needed, you will see an alert in the top left of the web interface. You can click the link in that alert to re-authenticate and re-establish the connection to the remote.

Because SharePoint uses the OAuth authorization protocol, there may be future errors with the authentication even after your remote server is configured and running smoothly for some time. When one of those errors happens, Files.com will disable your SharePoint remote server connection and record the error in your site alerts, showing it in the overall site warnings which displays on the top bar of the Administrator view in the web portal.

When you've resolved the problem that caused the authentication error, you can re-enable your remote server by re-saving its configuration. Even if you don't make any changes to the configuration, saving the record will cause Files.com to re-enable the connection so that any associated mounts and syncs will begin working again.

Files.com implements OAuth for access delegation to Sharepoint.

When configuring a connection to Sharepoint you will be redirected to your SharePoint server login page to authenticate.

Access controls and permissions are restricted to those of the SharePoint userID used to authenticate.

If you require Files.com to access and retrieve files from SharePoint then the SharePoint userID used should have at least Read and List permissions to the relevant SharePoint sites, folders, and files.

If you require Files.com to transfer or upload files to SharePoint then the SharePoint userID used should have at least Create, Read, Update, Delete and List permissions to the relevant SharePoint sites, folders, and files.

When connecting to SharePoint, Files.com will act in the context of the SharePoint userID used to authenticate the connection.

As a best practice, we recommend that you create a SharePoint userID specifically for Files.com and use this to authenticate the connection.

However, there may be times when you need to access the SharePoint content of specific users and so you can authenticate using those SharePoint user credentials instead.

You can configure as many connections to SharePoint as you require, each with different SharePoint credentials if needed, allowing you to restrict access to specific parts of SharePoint to specific users.