Migrating shared content

What is shared content?

In the context of a user content migration, shared content in Outlook is content shared with the users by other users or is owned collectively.

• Content shared with the user by other individual users is located in the "Shared" folder in OneDrive.
• Content that is owned collectively is located in shared libraries. Not all organizations rely on shared drives, although it's a common practice to do so.

Personal accounts do not have access to shared drives.

What is "Shared" content?

"Shared" content in OneDrive is files and folders shared with the user by other people (either within or outside the organization, if applicable). These files and folders are owned by other people's OneDrives and do not count against storage use in the user's source OneDrive.

Why is understanding shared content important?

1. Owned and shared content is often blended together, with users heavily relying on shared content to do their work without thinking about the ownership structure.
2. While the content shared internally in an organization will be migrated if each individual Drive is migrated, the content shared by external users will not be migrated unless the "Shared" folder is added to the scope.
3. When an organization is planning a migration of shared content, the fact that this content does not use storage in users' source Drives is often overlooked, which leads to an underestimation of the total migration size.

How is "Shared with me" content copied?

What is copied from the "Shared" folder?

VaultMe will copy all supported file types. For more information about what will be copied, see Supported content types.

Where does the copied content go and how is it organized?

Copies of items from the "Shared" folder created during the migration are best understood as snapshots of files and folders with all sharing and collaborative settings removed. These copies are brand-new items owned by the destination account. They should be treated as archival copies, not files where collaboration will continue.

Because of this:

• Copies of "Shared" files will not appear in the corresponding "Shared" section in the destination. They will be organized into a new folder in "My files."
• Each user will get a complete snapshot. If one item is shared with multiple users, each user will get their own copy.
• The folder will be named "Shared with me," but it will be located inside a migration folder created by VaultMeduring the migration.

Depending on the content organization scenario that you choose, the name of the migration folder will vary:

• If you choose to merge content, VaultMe creates a folder named “TODO” in "My Files." Inside it, a “Shared with me” subfolder is created.
• If you choose to separate content, VaultMe creates a new folder named after the source account’s email address. The folder is located in "My Files." Inside that folder, a "Shared with me" subfolder is created.

The "Shared with me" folder structure will be recreated in both cases.

Does VaultMe need owners' permissions to copy "Shared with me" content?

VaultMe does not require special permissions from the owners of shared files and folders. As long as the owners have not modified the files' settings to prevent copying, VaultMe will copy them.

We recommend copying "Shared with me" content only if you are confident that you or the organization on behalf of which you are running the migration has explicit permissions to copy items owned by other people or organizations. Even if file copying is not disabled in OneDrive, the organization may be bound by a contract prohibiting copying.

Will all content from "Shared with me" be copied?

While VaultMe always attempts to migrate all items, there are two limitations:

1. Some files may be protected against copying by their owners.

If the owners of the files disable downloading, the affected files will not be copied. Copying is often restricted for sensitive content, but for the majority of files, it's typically allowed.

If the organization knows that some highly sensitive files are protected against copying, it can reach out to the file owners and ask them to temporarily enable downloading.

To check if a shared file is protected against unauthorized downloading, simply open the file. If it is protected against downloading, you'll see a warning message at the top explaining that you can't print or download the file.

In some situations, copying shared content may violate contractual agreements, so when planning a migration, the organization must ensure it has all the necessary permissions to copy this content.

If some of the files have copying disabled, this will be reflected in the report generated by VaultMe, so you'll be able to trace these items.

2. Items shared with "Anyone with the link" may not be fully accessible.

If some files and folders are shared with "Anyone with the link" and not with the users' email addresses, the copied content may be incomplete due to the way OneDrive handles this scenario. When a file or folder is shared with "Anyone with the link," OneDrive can only associate this item with the user's "Shared" section after the user opens it. Because of this:

• Files shared with "Anyone with the link" that have never been opened will not be copied, even if the user has added shortcuts to them in their OneDrive.
• Folders shared with "Anyone with the link" that have never been opened will not be copied, even if the user has added shortcuts to them in their OneDrive.
• If a folder is shared with "Anyone with the link," only the files opened within that folder will be copied. For all items within the folder to become indexable, the user must also open each file in the folder.

For items shared with the user's email address, there is no such limitation.

If necessary, you may need to instruct users to check the settings of the shared items before the migration. Users will need to:

• Identify items shared with "Anyone with the link" by checking their permissions. To see how the item was shared, select the item, click the three vertical dots, and select "Manage access." The panel will show who has direct access.
• Either open each item or reach out to the owners of the folders and ask them to share these folders directly with the email addresses.

Does VaultMe transfer the ownership of "Shared with me" documents?

VaultMe does not change ownership of "Shared with me" items; it only creates personal copies of these documents for the user. Nothing will change in the source.

Are changes made in the source after migration reflected in the copies?

Changes made to the shared file in the source folders will not be reflected in the copies in the destination, unless the administrator runs a sync-up migration. Sync-up migrations are only possible within 30 days of the migration date. For more information about sync-up migrations, see Sync-up (delta) migrations.

How can I tell whether a file is an original shared item or a migrated copy?

If a file was shared with the source account before the migration and then re-shared with the destination account, a manual search for the file's name will return two results: one for the original re-shared file and the other for the copy created by VaultMe. To check which file is a copy and which one is the original, users can review the properties of the file in the "Details" panel.

An original shared item usually has these signs:

• Owner: someone else
• Access: inherited from a share
• Location: often appears through "Shared" or in a shared folder
• Activity/history: older history that predates the migration

A migrated copy usually has these signs:

• Owner: the destination account
• Created date: around the time of the migration
• Sharing: no original sharing permissions carried over, or only default/private access
• Version/activity history: starts fresh, with no earlier collaboration history

To check these details, in OneDrive:

1. Click the three-dot menu.
2. Click "Details."
3. Look at the owner, location, created date, sharing access, and activity.

To avoid further confusion, it may be best to rename files or folders by adding "Archive" or another descriptor to the copy's name.

What happens to sharing permissions?

VaultMe does not copy sharing permissions. Copies created during the migration are brand-new items owned by the destination account. These copies are intended to be used for archival purposes only.

For this reason, after the migration, items from the source OneDrive's "Shared" folder will not automatically appear in the "Shared" section in the destination. Instead, their copies will be organized into a new migration folder in "My files."

To continue collaboration, owners of the original shared files will need to re-share the files with the new accounts after the migration.

How do users resume collaboration after the migration?

Because VaultMe does not copy sharing permissions, the original files and folders must be re-shared by their owners after the migration for collaboration. Users will need to ask collaborators to re-share them with the new accounts.

Here's a checklist that you can use to work on restoring all permissions:

1. Before the migration, identify content where collaboration must continue. Each user should review their "Shared" folders and identify files and folders they actively collaborate on. They should note who owns the item, who needs access after migration, and whether edit or view access is required. They can use a simple spreadsheet with columns for:

• File/Folder name
• Location
• Current owner
• Required collaborators
• Access level (view/edit/comment)

It may be reasonable to work through these files in a centralized way, so that each department, if applicable, creates one document instead of multiple documents by individual users. For each collaborating partner or organization (such as for each customer), a separate document may need to be created.

The same process needs to be applied to the files that are shared by the users in the source accounts. With internal files, each user will need to create a list of collaborators and files that will need to have access to the copies of the documents.

2. Notify collaborators in advance. Send a short message to internal teams and clients explaining:

• Users are migrating to new accounts
• Links will change
• Collaboration will resume immediately after permissions are re-added by the owners of the documents

Here's a simple template that you can use for collaborators outside the organization:

"Subject: Temporary impact to shared content during account migration

Hello,

We’re reaching out to let you know that we’ll be migrating our accounts to a new environment. As part of this process, content that you have shared with our organization may be temporarily affected.

What to expect:

• Content you’ve shared with us will need to be re-shared with our new accounts after the migration.
• Existing sharing links on our end will also change.
• Collaboration will resume shortly after the migration, once the owners re-add the necessary sharing permissions.

No action is required from you at this time. We'll reach out with a list of files that will require re-sharing shortly.

Thank you for your understanding".

3. After the migration, ask the owners of the files to re-share the documents. Users will need to reach out directly to each collaborator and ask them to re-share the affected documents with the new email addresses.

What are VaultMe's recommendations for migrating "Shared with me" content?

The recommendations below apply to most migrations. Still, each migration is different, so consider your unique situation when preparing for the migration.

1. Include "Shared with me" items in the migration.

As long as there are no legal concerns, content from the "Shared" folder should be copied. The contents of this folder will be different for each user, so we recommend including this type of shared content in the migration for all users.

However, if one document is shared with multiple users within the organization, each user will get their personal copy of this document. Remember that VaultMe creates a snapshot of the shared document, which should be used primarily for archival purposes.

To continue collaboration, users should avoid editing their personal copies. Instead, the owner of the original file must re-share the original file with all other users.

2. Account for storage used by "Shared with me" items.

To get an estimate of the total migration size and assign appropriate storage for users in the destination, administrators need to account for not only owned content (such as the contents of "My files" for all users and shared drives), but also the items from the "Shared" folder.

Because "Shared with me" content does not count against the storage quota of the source accounts but will use storage in the destination accounts, it needs to be taken into consideration when planning how much storage space each user needs.

OneDrive does not display how much storage space "Shared with me" items take, so the only way to estimate their size is to connect the accounts to VaultMe and run a scan.