SharePoint is a great way to share documents across a team. You can upload documents, track version history, and control access via checkouts. The document libraries on the website have a few shortcomings, though. You can’t move a file, for example. Copying the file to another location is painful, too.
You can make things better by accessing the document library through Windows Explorer. It can be accessed as a UNC path. To get the UNC path, just convert the URL like so:
| SharePoint document library URL | UNC path |
|---|---|
| http://mysharepoint/foo/documents | \\mysharepoint\foo\documents |
Using this little trick, you get all of the Windows functionality you’re used to with none of the restrictions of the SharePoint website. You can rename, drag & drop, and copy/paste just like you would with any network share. Using the SharePoint site isn’t bad, but this provides a better experience.
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