Microsoft Teams/Sharepoint Storage
A guide for installing and using the shared storage features of Microsoft Teams/Sharepoint
Installation and migration:
- Set up a Team in Microsoft Teams
- Note: this creates a 'Site' in the Sharepoint backend. The URL to this sharepoint site is: https://uwprod.sharepoint.com/sites/TeamName
- By default a general channel is created. Each channel gets its own folder in the sharepoint site.
- Use the Microsoft Sharepoint Migration Tool to migrate content from existing storage to the new shared storage
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointmigration/introducing-the-sharepoint-migration-tool
- You must be an 'Owner' of the Team to perform the migration
- Install and start the migration tool. Instructions for it's use are simple: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointmigration/how-to-use-the-sharepoint-migration-tool
- The migration tool is the way to go; I had several show-stopping issues when trying to drag and drop large amounts of files. It also produces useful logs!
Using Shared Storage
- An introductory video: https://mediaspace.wisc.edu/media/Law+Library+Shared+Storage/0_kabd3n0q
- Upload (Teams or Web Browser) – To upload files, you can simply drag and drop a file onto the shared storage. There is also an ‘Upload’ button, when you press the button a window opens where you can navigate to any files you wish to upload.
- Check out (Teams or Web Browser) – When you select a file, look at the menu bar above the files. There is an option for Check Out. If you Check out a file, it allows you to edit the file but everyone else can only see it as ‘Read Only’. When you are finished editing you can ‘Check in’ the file to save your edits or ‘Discard Check out’ to discard your changed. This is a great feature for files that a lot of people edit.
- Version History (Web Browser) – In the web browser you can right click a file to view its version history. This allows you to see who has been editing a file. You can also roll back to a previous version if you saved a change by mistake.
- Share files (Web Browser) - Hover over an item to see the share button (the box with the arrow). You can use this button to share a link to a file to anyone, and with it you can include a message and control access permissions.
- Share files (Outlook) - Choose the attachment option, browse cloud locations, and then choose Groups. From there, you can choose the location of your files
- Shortcuts (Windows/Web Browser) - You can create a desktop shortcut to a file or folder in the Web Browser view. In the Web Browser view, select a file or folder and press the 'Copy Link' button. Right click on the Windows desktop and press New, then Shortcut. In the window that opens paste the link you copied. When you open the shortcut your Web Browser will open and will take you directly to the file or folder.
Things to know after migration:
- Be sure to stop using the old S Drive, even if you find you can still connect to it. Once things have calmed down for IT after instruction resumes we will be removing access from staff’s computers. Please use the new shared storage going forward.
- A small percentage of files did not correctly copy over to the new shared storage. Most of these files are junk files (thumbs.db, for example) but there is a small chance that a file you’re looking for did not copy over. This is most likely due to a corrupt file, but if you’re missing something don’t panic! I can still access the old files and see if I can rescue what you’re looking for.
- Access denied – you may see a message that says ‘Access Denied’ with a ‘Retry’ button below. Press the retry button if you see this. The most like cause is that you need to re-enter your net id. After you enter it you should be able to see the files.
- When using shared storage you may see a brief flash of the files directory that doesn’t look quite right, but then it will suddenly return to normal. This seems to be a harmless glitch, but if you think things still aren’t right let me know.
- The Teams view in general has fewer features than the web view.
Outstanding Issues:
- Large directories full of items may take some time to load
- By default items are sorted by date modified. This is usually fine but can be problematic
- As of right now, anyone can add and remove columns from the site view. This changes the view for EVERYONE, so please use with caution. We are investigating how to disable this.
- As of right now, the editing feature does not work with PDFs