Office 365

Hi all! I am the SharePoint admin/records manager for a small non-profit. We recently migrated all files in our network file share that were in their current retention period into SharePoint Online (so that SharePoint only holds active records). Any historical documents/photographs have remained in the network file share, as Archives has taken over this space as their main repository.

I have two questions: 

1. Is there a free/low-cost way to migrate content from SharePoint Online back to file share that retains original metadata such as creation date and author? I'm accustomed to using the SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) to migrate from file share to SPO, but not the other way around, and I'm coming up with a process for how to transfer files once they hit retention.
2. The decision to only migrate current files was made before I started at the org, but in your professional opinion is this the best solution for retaining archival files? If we were to put archival documents on SharePoint, I have concerns about Windows metadata not transferring correctly, file types becoming obsolete due to lack of visibility/lack of use, etc.

Again, I am at a very small non-profit with limited funding, so something like ShareGate is both overkill (in terms of file volume) and too expensive. Thanks in advance for any insights!

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Alysha Try
Information Management Specialist
Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada
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Hi Alysha,

I can relate to the challenges of managing archival content in SharePoint Online.

For migrating content from SharePoint Online back to a file share while retaining metadata, I haven't used it personally, but you might want to explore Rclone. It's an open-source tool that supports SharePoint and could be a good fit for your needs with some technical setup.

Regarding your second question, I've created an Archive library in SharePoint for each departmental site with Search turned off. This prevents tools like Copilot and Search from pulling outdated information while keeping archival content accessible when needed. It might be worth considering this option if you want to keep archival documents within your SharePoint environment and retain the metadata.

Your concern about file formats becoming obsolete is valid but having them in SharePoint could actually help in managing file format updates over time. Plus, SharePoint's versioning and metadata management can be invaluable for archival purposes.

Ultimately, balancing budget, technology, and long-term accessibility is tricky, but I hope these suggestions help you explore feasible options.

Best of luck!

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Charles Simpson
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Hi Alysha,

Charles makes some very good points. I would like to better understand the business reasons for keeping archival content on the shared drives. Please reach out to me at your convenience to chat about some options and strategies. 

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Amitabh Srivastav, CIP, IGP, PMP, AIIM Fellow
CDO & VP, Compliance & Risk Management
HELUX
amitabh@...
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-13-2025 08:56
From: Charles Simpson
Subject: Migration from SharePoint Online Back to File Share (and where to retain Archives...)

Hi Alysha,

I can relate to the challenges of managing archival content in SharePoint Online.

For migrating content from SharePoint Online back to a file share while retaining metadata, I haven't used it personally, but you might want to explore Rclone. It's an open-source tool that supports SharePoint and could be a good fit for your needs with some technical setup.

Regarding your second question, I've created an Archive library in SharePoint for each departmental site with Search turned off. This prevents tools like Copilot and Search from pulling outdated information while keeping archival content accessible when needed. It might be worth considering this option if you want to keep archival documents within your SharePoint environment and retain the metadata.

Your concern about file formats becoming obsolete is valid but having them in SharePoint could actually help in managing file format updates over time. Plus, SharePoint's versioning and metadata management can be invaluable for archival purposes.

Ultimately, balancing budget, technology, and long-term accessibility is tricky, but I hope these suggestions help you explore feasible options.

Best of luck!

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Charles Simpson
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Thank you, Charles - appreciate the insights! I will definitely be checking out Rclone. 

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Alysha Try
Information Management Specialist
Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-13-2025 08:56
From: Charles Simpson
Subject: Migration from SharePoint Online Back to File Share (and where to retain Archives...)

Hi Alysha,

I can relate to the challenges of managing archival content in SharePoint Online.

For migrating content from SharePoint Online back to a file share while retaining metadata, I haven't used it personally, but you might want to explore Rclone. It's an open-source tool that supports SharePoint and could be a good fit for your needs with some technical setup.

Regarding your second question, I've created an Archive library in SharePoint for each departmental site with Search turned off. This prevents tools like Copilot and Search from pulling outdated information while keeping archival content accessible when needed. It might be worth considering this option if you want to keep archival documents within your SharePoint environment and retain the metadata.

Your concern about file formats becoming obsolete is valid but having them in SharePoint could actually help in managing file format updates over time. Plus, SharePoint's versioning and metadata management can be invaluable for archival purposes.

Ultimately, balancing budget, technology, and long-term accessibility is tricky, but I hope these suggestions help you explore feasible options.

Best of luck!

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Charles Simpson
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Hi Alysha,

For our clients we have a tool that migrates files and keeps the metadata in a "sidecar" file.  It can be rehydrated into SharePoint at any time.  However, migrating files from SharePoint Online to  file share isn't something that I'd recommend to a smaller organization.  With the 1TB starting amount for storage rarely to I find total storage to be a problem.  Charles recommended moving the files to places where search is turned off which is useful if that's a concern.

What's the perceived problem that's being solved by the migration?

-Rob

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Robert Bogue
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