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How to map an Office 365 Document Library in Windows Explorer

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Fair Warning

Since the launch of the New Office 365 early 2013, this 2011 blog post has become outdated. SkyDrive Pro is now the way to sync files from SharePoint Online to your Windows 7 or 8 desktop. Read more here.

//Jesper Osgaard, July 2014

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I often get asked if its possible to map a SharePoint Online Document Library in Windows Explorer e.g. for easy opening of files a.s.o directly from Windows Explorer.

It is certainly possible:

Create a Document Library - in this example called "DocRepository". Since the name of my Office 365 tenant in this example is "mso365wiz" the URL to the Document Library is "https://mso365wiz.sharepoint.com/DocRepository"

In order to map the files in this Document Library in Windows Explorer the trick is to:

  1. Copy the URL of the Document Library to the clipboard
  2. Open Windows Explorer
  3. Right-click "Network" and click "Map Network Drive" to display the dialog "Map Network Drive"
  4. In the dialog click "Connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures" to display the dialog "Add Network Location"
  5. In the dialog click "Next" and then "Next" again to display a new dialog
  6. In the textbox "Internet or network address" paste the copied URL of the Document Library
  7. Delete the "https:" part of the URL
  8. Replace every forward slash with a backward slash
  9. Insert "@ssl" after ".com"
  10. Finish the dialogs

In my example the URL is "https://mso365wiz.sharepoint.com/DocRepository" and should hence be "\\mso365wiz.sharepoint.com@ssl\DocRepository" after the above changes.

You should now be able to access the Document Library from your Windows Explorer.

See also this support article

Update #1 (February 2012):

SharePoint Online in Office 365 uses forms based authentication and the user is authenticated using a SAML token. This SAML token expires every 2 hours (some say longer though). After that the mapped drive for the SharePoint library cant access the library unless the user signs in to the SharePoint Online site again from the browser, even if the user tick off "Keep me signed in". As an alternative you can add the URL of the document library to Favorites in Windows Explorer. You'll need to do that via e.g. Word.

  1. Open the document library in SharePoint Online
  2. Copy the URL of the document library to the Clipboard (e.g https://mso365wiz.sharepoint.com/Docs/Forms/AllItems.aspx)
  3. Open a new Word document
  4. Click Save As to open the Save As dialog
  5. Paste the URL from the clipboard into the Address text box at the top of the Save As dialog
  6. Delete /Forms/AllItems.aspx from the URL in the text box
  7. Press Enter to open the document library
  8. Right-click Favorites (top left of the Save As dialog)
  9. Click Add current location to Favorites
  10. Rename the new shortcut (optional)

Update #2 (May 2013)

Since the launch of the new Office 365 in the beginning of 2013, the above has become obsolete. SkyDrive Pro is now the way to sync files from SharePoint Online to your Windows 7 or 8 desktop. Read more here.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Windows 7 w/ IE 10 and Windows 8 should both have fixes in Windows update that resolves the issue mentioned above in 2.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    As far as I know the "add to favorires" methods will work without any credential prompts (you wont get any Access Denied - thats for sure). But it should be easy to test though. Try saving a document before you sign into Office 365 first thing in the morning :-)

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Lets hope Skydrive Pro will be the answer sharepoint.microsoft.com/.../BlogPost.aspx

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Here's a recent conversation. http://community.office365.com/en-us/forums/154/p/214997/655963.aspx

  • Anonymous
    March 07, 2012
    Dear Jasper, Thank you for this great article. I've just added my Sharepoint Online Library to my favorites. Is the SAML token going to expire after 2 hours as well with this solution? I'm looking for a solution where I can map my Sharepoint Library and were the SAML token will never expire... Kind regards, Sander

  • Anonymous
    April 03, 2012
    I tried the 'Add to favorites' method and am getting access denied when I click on the mounted folder after the SAML token expiration.  Surely MS has thought about this scenario?

  • Anonymous
    July 19, 2012
    If MS Has thought about this scenario they didn't think it through at all! EVERYONE I have put onto Office 365 wants this feature to be persistant and every last customer is bitterly disappointed when I tell them it can't be done without alot of mucking around. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Microsoft fix this!

  • Anonymous
    January 28, 2013
    Is there already a solution for this horrible problem? I want to have a map for my company documents, not surfing trough my browser, that costs many many extra time. It's not that hard to have a simple description how to fix this permanent?!

  • Anonymous
    March 06, 2013
    Hi Jesper, my name is Johanna and I am struggeling with this Issue. My URL does not contain: https, nor .com. http://abcd1/webbplatser/ugnet/Dokument/SitePages/Startsida.aspx How should I add the Internet or network address? (To  add a  map networkdrive folder) It gives me error all the time :( Thanks!

  • Anonymous
    March 11, 2013
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    June 07, 2013
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    April 08, 2014
    i think a 5000 item limit for sync with skydrivepro is not of this time.... A normal company uses much more items than 5000. Even in a single directory, so creating libraries for all subdirectories isnt an option... I am leaving Sharepoint Online and start using a decent online storage....

  • Anonymous
    June 04, 2014
    I get asked a lot of questions about OneDrive for Business from customers so I have put together a quick

  • Anonymous
    June 04, 2014
    I get asked a lot of questions about OneDrive for Business from customers so I have put together a quick

  • Anonymous
    June 04, 2014
    I get asked a lot of questions about OneDrive for Business from customers so I have put together a quick

  • Anonymous
    June 04, 2014
    I get asked a lot of questions about OneDrive for Business from customers so I have put together a quick

  • Anonymous
    July 17, 2014
    The notice that this is obsolete would be more effective at the top rather the bottome of this article.

  • Anonymous
    September 10, 2014
    I've done all that and the drive mapping never reconnects

  • Anonymous
    September 24, 2014
    Thanks a lot for providing this information. it helped me :)

  • Anonymous
    October 07, 2014
    OneDrive for business I think replaced skydrive pro.

  • Anonymous
    October 07, 2014
    Too good piece of information, I had come to know about your site from my friend, and let me tell you, your web-page gives the best and the most interesting information. This is just the kind of information that I had been looking for, I'm already your rss reader now and I would regularly watch out for the new post, once again hats off to you! Thanks a lot once again, Regards,SharePoint Training Institutes in Hyderabad India

  • Anonymous
    October 07, 2014
    Brilliant piece of information, I had come to know about your web-page from my friend, and let me tell you, your webpage gives the best and the most interesting information. This is just the kind of information that I had been looking for, I'm already your rss reader now and I would regularly watch out for the new posts, once again hats off to you! Thanks a million once again, Regards,SharePoint Online Training in Hyderabad India

  • Anonymous
    October 07, 2014
    Excellent piece of information, I had come to know about your website from my friend, and let me tell you, your site gives the best and the most interesting information. This is just the kind of information that I had been looking for, I'm already your rss reader now and I would regularly watch out for the new posts, once again hats off to you! Thanks a lot once again, Regards,SharePoint Developer Training in Hyderabad India

  • Anonymous
    October 07, 2014
    Wonderful information, I had come to know about your blog from my friend, and let me tell you, your website gives the best and the most interesting information. This is just the kind of information that I had been looking for, I'm already your rss reader now and I would regularly watch out for the new posts, once again hats off to you! Thanks a ton once again, Regards,SharePoint Administration Training in Hyderabad India

  • Anonymous
    December 04, 2014
    Check this one out: http://fabiocuneaz.blogspot.it/

  • Anonymous
    December 23, 2014
    Thank you so MUCH!!! Awesome article!

  • Anonymous
    March 12, 2015
    I have written a script to automatically map your OneDrive for Business upon login to Citrix/RDS/etc. You can find it here:http://www.lieben.nu/numb3rs/?page_id=129
    It works with or without ADFS.
    Free to use, just leave the author comments, and send me a comment at my blog if you need additional features or if you find a bug I didn't notice :)

  • Anonymous
    March 25, 2015
    Another option is Zee Drive, a drive mapping tool for OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online document libraries. Zee Drive creates persistent drive mappings available when you sign in to Windowshttp://www.thinkscape.com/Map-Network-Drives-To-Office-365-OneDrive/

  • Anonymous
    May 11, 2015
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 09, 2016
    Here is a post how to add the explorer button to the Ofice 365 Quicklaunch: https://fiechter.eu/2016/02/09/open-windows-explorer-from-sharepoint-hero-bar-quick-launch-qcb/

  • Anonymous
    February 20, 2016
    Not that I'm counting but I just realized one of my blog posts actually is closing in on 100k views

  • Anonymous
    December 12, 2016
    This is such a PIA! I routinely map some of my users to our company's 365 document library. Frequently, though I haven't been able to put a time on it, the mapping will go dead (assuming it's a SAML expiration). For me to correct this I have to delete the mapped location in Windows Explorer, reset IE options and restart the machine, and then go through the process of remapping the library. I usually have to do this several times a week. It's a pretty simple process but it's just a pain. Conversely I have a Mac user that has Office 2011 installed. Theres a great tool there called Microsoft Document Connection that maps the document library and holds it. I don't know why MS can't just translate this program into a Windows version. It would make a lot of people happy I think. Does anyone know of a similar program that is free?

  • Anonymous
    February 11, 2017
    I just released a free tool which allows to upload easily through the SendTo menu of Windows Explorer.Feel free to use it: https://fiechter.eu/2017/02/11/windows-explorer-send-to-sharepoint-or-onedrive-for-business/

  • Anonymous
    May 24, 2017
    Thank you so much!!! Awesome article!