How to migrate file shares to SharePoint 2010

After speaking at TechMentor in Las Vegas last month, I was approached by someone who asked how to migrate to SharePoint 2010. At first I thought he meant how he might migrate from an earlier version, but he actually meant how to get the file shares into SharePoint 2010 smoothly. I thought, “Great question. I have no idea.”

We’re talking about thousands of files and folders in many cases. SharePoint is meant to replace traditional methods of accessing files and add features like workflow controls and check-in/check-out for more organized document processing, through which users collaborate. But changing from from a system of file shares is not simply a drag-and-drop affair, at least not with the out-of-the-box SharePoint tools.

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After talking with Microsoft and researching others’ approaches, there appears to be several interesting techniques. Some are very hands-off, and others are more aggressive.

• You can simply set up SharePoint and let users slowly migrate to it while supporting file shares at the same time. There is nothing that says you have to push everything into SharePoint overnight. In fact, you can force the issue by making the file share read-only so that users can access their files but must save changes onto SharePoint. But depending on the overall mindset of your organization, this may lead to mayhem.
• One SharePoint expert named Henry Ong wrote an interesting blog post where he recommends starting with a team that is already excited about the use of SharePoint and slowly making its active file shares read-only. By creating sites and using the Page Viewer Web Part, the team members can both access the SharePoint site for collaboration and access the read-only file shares. When a document is modified, they can work on it and save it back to the SharePoint server rather than to the file shares.
• For a more aggressive, drag-and-drop approach, get a third-party tool and just make it happen. There is a cost involved, and ideally, your people will be well trained and ready for the dramatic shift in work procedure that comes with the complete switchover from a traditional file share to SharePoint. However, it’s also the fastest approach. Richard Riley, a director at Microsoft, identified a bevy of companies with migration tools. The Microsoft SharePoint Conference website has a list of sponsors and exhibitors that offer tools to consider, including Quest Software’s File Migrator for SharePoint, AvePoint’s DocAve File System Migrator for SharePoint, and Metalogix’s FileShare Migration Manager for SharePoint.

You can then decide how you want to proceed. However, file shares are not the only items you may want to migrate to SharePoint. Perhaps you are trying to migrate public folders to SharePoint. Blogger has Joel Oleson put together an updated list of tools for the task.

Microsoft’s Riley also mentioned an interesting new tool in SharePoint 2010 called the Content Organizer, which allows you to route documents to different libraries and even to different folders in those libraries. It must be enabled in Site Features; once it’s activated, you’ll see the Content Organizer Settings and Content Organizer Rules menus added to site administration settings. The Microsoft SharePoint team was kind enough to put together a three-part article on how to use the Content Organizer: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Keep in mind the Content Organizer will not aid you with your file migrations per se, but it will help you stay organized once you have all those files and folders in SharePoint.

One final point of advice in terms of file-share migrations to SharePoint: Like any type of data dumping ground, the data comes in and is forgotten, growing and growing over the years. The migration to SharePoint is an opportunity to clean up a bit before you move over. Don’t take the junk with you; bring only your best stuff. Migrations, like life, are best traveled with as little baggage as possible.

This article, “How to migrate file shares to SharePoint 2010,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of J. Peter Bruzzese’s Enterprise Windows blog and follow the latest developments in Windows at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.