Again use IE – Open in Explorer does not work in Chrome. To get this, click on the Library tab, then click the “Open in Explorer” button. The URL in your browser will not work for our mapped drive – we need to know the true path. Use IE to browse to the SharePoint library you want to map a drive to. So, to do this, you need to know the path you will use for the mapped drive/network location. This functionality relies on WebDAV and the Webclient service. **Technically we are “Adding a network location” but start the same way we would map a drive. The purpose of this is to keep the security token for SharePoint active. And…you should do this with Internet Explorer (IE). With one caveat (of course there is) – you need to log in to SharePoint and browse to one of your mapped libraries when you reboot. It is possible to map a drive to SharePoint or OneDrive for Business and maintain the connection through reboots. We still have simultaneous, multi-user edit capabilities for supported file types, but no sync headaches.
This gives us the look and feel of regular local files and the ability to move files around that is not possible now via a web browser. But using a browser as the sole vehicle for accessing files doesn’t work for me. We have excellent bandwidth at the office – it doesn’t make sense to sync copies of files to all of our desktops. Having said all of that, I will add that I love SharePoint and think it is underutilized by many Office 365 customers. Lets hope the complaints of thousands of people that just want it to “sync like Dropbox” are being heard by the people that can direct that focus. I know Microsoft is working to improve it and they have shown they can make great progress when their energy is focused. And, I understand how difficult it is to reliably sync any data, much less documents that dozens of people may be collaborating on. To be fair, this is MUCH better than the old SharePoint sync mechanisms – SharePoint Workspace or Groove. And do it again when it next time it breaks.
Which means stop syncing the library, delete cache, re-sync. But, even if you adhere to all best practices, and give it the best possible chance to succeed, you will eventually run into sync issues. Allow me and my team to efficiently access and collaborate on local files synced from centrally located SharePoint libraries? Off-line edits and additions magically syncing and merging with my teammates changes once I establish an internet connection? SharePoint power and security plus DropBox like sync? Sign me up.
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