What file types do you store in SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should

In SharePoint, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams, you can upload all kinds of file types imaginable, but even if you can, it’s not necessarily a good idea.

I have, on several occasions, seen zip files, database files, installation files (ISO), executable files such as exe files, e-mail messages, heavy drawings and graphics uploaded. Often this has happened in connection with decommissioning your Windows file server and quickly needing a new place to store your information. If you don’t know where different file types should be stored, it is quite natural that this happens.

And it rarely stops there

Not only do you store these file types in Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams), it is also very common that the files have insanely long file names and that you have created a far too deep folder hierarchy with a folder within a folder within a folder in a folder (and so on) to finally find the file you are looking for in the bottom folder and that it then has a strange file name that is far too long and also has strange letters and characters. (This theme deserves its own blog post so we won’t delve into it further now.)

None of SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams is a Modern Windows file server.

As much as we wish it were possible, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams also don’t completely replace an old-fashioned file server. I repeat; “even if you can do it, it may not be a good idea”.

If you are unsure about what should be in Microsoft 365 – then think collaboration

I usually have as a rule that if a file cannot be opened in an Office application, it has no right to exist in SharePoint, OneDrive or Microsoft Teams. The file types you can, must and should store in SharePoint, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams are primarily Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and standard image formats. Microsoft 365 is a collaboration platform and by that is meant that you should be able to collaborate on/in the files that are stored there. You must also be able to search for (and within) the files stored there. Ideally, you also want to find what you’re looking for, right?

Where should you then store “the other files”?

If you have a need to store a large number of these other file types (that are not Office files, images or PDF) then they belong on a file server/file sharing area in one form or another.

When you, for perfectly understandable reasons, wish to retire your old traditional Windows file server that is sitting humming in your server rack, you most likely still need something to replace your old Windows file server with. A good solution can then be to use Azure Files. With Azure Files, you still store files as you did (or do) on your old file server, but with the difference that here you are in the cloud and that increases availability, security and scalability significantly (of course, and as with everything else, provided that you set up, manage and use it correctly). In addition, the hum in your server room quiets down. Read more about the possibilities here: What is Azure Files?

Summary

That’s all I had to pass on for today. Now you get a voluntary homework to find out which file types you store in SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams in your organization. Don’t be surprised if you find that what I wrote about in this post also corresponds to what is stored in Microsoft 365 in your company/organization. If you (which I think you will) find zip files, database files, installation files (ISO), executable files such as exe files, e-mail messages, heavy drawings and graphics, you need to address this problem as soon as possible and move these file types somewhere else, for example to Azure files.

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