I′ve warned you! Be aware of your old "folder and filenaming" habbits...

I am more and more an enemy of the "Windows File Explorer Sync" with OneDrive. Most of the time, no one listens to me anymore when I have shown how to integrate SharePoint/ Microsoft Teams folders into the familiar File Explorer view. Yet working in Teams/ SharePoint has significant advantages, even if it is more unfamiliar and a bit slower. The times of nested folder structures and long file names are over.

Many risks...

“Help! We just had all our files and folders mysteriously disappear from our SharePoint site. They were there yesterday, and today they are all gone. We lost like 10,000+ files and folders.”

Unintentional deletion of ALL Teams / SharePoint files

Employees think that you can easily just delete the teams / folders in File Explorer. However, it is a 1:1 synchronization.... all changes (rename, copy, move and also delete...) will be applied in SharePoint. More info here: How to stop sync of a SharePoint Document Library - SharePoint Maven

More synchronization issues

Problems occur more often with file synchronization than working directly in Microsoft Teams or SharePoint. One typical error: Add Shortcut to OneDrive vs. OneDrive Sync - SharePoint Maven Not a problem if you know how to fix them quickly...However:

Synchronization problems that go unnoticed

Sometimes end users don't even notice that synchronization has been interrupted and continue working in files. But without active synchronization, you work locally in files on your PC.... The blue cloud and the file explorer must therefore always look like this:

Problems with nested folder structures and long file names

If you include this in the Windows file explorer via OneDrive synchronization, then you have a limit of 256 characters! The TOTAL file path counts, e.g. "C:\Users\marcu\Tiba Managementberatung GmbH\Products & Services - Documents\Presentation.pptx" (here 95 characters, so no problem yet). So, you should get used to a new folder structure. PS: this restriction has always been valid in Windows or the individual programs for "opening" the files. Mapping "classic" folder hierarchies always leads to problem due to file length. In SharePoint / on the web itself you have a limit of 400 characters (incl. "https: //company.sharepoint.com/sites/Company_Group_Microsoft365/.../filename"). Here is a good article explaining this. SharePoint Migration: SharePoint Migration: Mind the URL Length – Tahoe Ninjas

Recommendations

• Maximum 3-4 folder levels
• short folder names
• short file names
• USE META-DATA: NO versions, dates in filenames (exceptions exist...)
• USE META-DATA: if there are a lot of files of the same type (e.g. invoices) then it makes sense to work with meta data instead of folders
• Finer folder categories: Go with folders in "width" instead of "depth"/"length".
• if necessary create separate document libraries or Teams / SharePoint Sites for documents
• ...