Liscaragh Migrate › Help › Files and folders

How to use: files and folders source

This page covers migrating from local drives and network shares. The wider flow, preview, upload, verify, sync and reporting, is the same for every source and is covered in the main how-to guide.

1. Connect Microsoft 365

A files-and-folders migration reads from a location on your own network, so there is no source API to connect. You still connect the destination once per computer under Settings > API settings, using the app registration and certificate covered in the Microsoft 365 setup guide. Use Test connection to confirm Microsoft 365 is reachable before you start.

2. Choose your source folder

Create a job with Job > New, then point it at the folder or network share you want to move. A local path (for example a mapped drive) or a full network path both work. As with any source, you can scope the migration to a subfolder if you only want part of it.

Source folder credentials

If the account you're running Liscaragh Migrate as already has access to the share, there is nothing further to set up: it connects as that account, the same way Windows Explorer would. If the share needs a different account, for example a service account with its own read access, you can store that sign-in so the tool (and any scheduled run) can connect as it automatically:

• Share sign-ins…, shown for a files-and-folders source, opens a management list of stored sign-ins where you can add, review or remove one for a given server.
• If you add a source folder and it fails to open because the account running the tool doesn't have access, the tool offers to store a different account's sign-in there and then, so you don't need to go looking for the setting.

Either way, the sign-in is saved into Windows' own Credential Manager, not into any file the tool manages. The tool cannot retrieve or display the password back once it's saved; Windows presents it automatically when the share is reached. You can review or remove it at any time, from inside the tool or directly through Windows' Credential Manager in Control Panel. See how we store your credentials for the full detail on this and the other credentials the tool holds.

3. Choose a destination

Pick where the files should land: a SharePoint site and library, or a person's OneDrive. Browse drills into the existing destination folders or creates a new one. Click Apply to confirm the mapping. The green lines show exactly where files will land before anything runs.

4. Names are tidied for SharePoint automatically

SharePoint rejects certain file and folder names that are perfectly valid on a Windows file system, such as names reserved by the operating system, names ending in a space or a dot, and a few special cases. Liscaragh Migrate detects these and renames them just enough to be accepted, and only ever renames what actually needs it. Every rename is recorded in the report, so nothing is silently changed and you can find exactly what moved afterwards. You do not need to clean the source up first.

5. Leave the clutter behind

File shares accumulate temporary files and operating-system junk. Click Filters..., docked above the projects list, to decide what this job copies. It applies to every project in the job, not just the one selected, and takes effect on the next run. Three controls are available: skip files above a size you set, skip a list of wildcard patterns (the default catches Office lock files, thumbs.db and .DS_Store) or, the reverse, copy only files matching patterns you give it, and a modified-date window to include only files changed on or after, or before, a date you pick. See the Filters section of the main guide for the full detail.

6. Preview, upload, verify, sync

From here the flow is identical to any other source. Run Preview to see what would move and what would be renamed, Upload all files to copy, then Verify files arrived to confirm the destination is complete. If people are still working in the source, Sync new and changed tops the destination up before cut-over. The main how-to guide covers each of these in full.