Moving from a file server to SharePoint and OneDrive: a migration checklist for SA small businesses and councils

Many South Australian small businesses, not-for-profits and smaller councils still keep their shared files on a server in a cupboard, a network drive with letters like S: and P:, or a small NAS box that someone set up years ago. When the hardware gets old, the backup is uncertain or staff need to work from home, the usual plan is to move those files into Microsoft 365, using SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive. Done well, the move gives you version history, access from anywhere, simpler backup and a chance to clean up who can see what. Done in a hurry, it copies years of clutter and messy permissions into the cloud, breaks links inside spreadsheets and leaves staff unsure where anything lives. This checklist explains how to plan the move, in plain words, so it lands well. It is general guidance, not legal or records advice.

Decide where each kind of file belongs

SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive are not three copies of the same thing. Before moving anything, agree a simple rule for each kind of content:

Where	What belongs there
OneDrive	Each person’s own working files and drafts. It belongs to that person and is not the right home for records the organisation needs to keep after they leave.
Teams (backed by a SharePoint site)	Files a team or project works on together day to day, alongside its chat and meetings.
SharePoint sites	Shared business records, policies, templates and reference material, organised by function such as finance, HR, operations or governance, with a named owner for each site.
A line-of-business system	Content that already has a proper home, such as a council records system, case management, CRM or accounting software. Do not copy it into SharePoint just because it sat on the file server.

A short map from old folders to new locations, drawn up with the people who use them, saves weeks of confusion later.

Take stock of the file server first

• Size and age. How much data there is, and how much has not been opened in years. Old content can often be archived rather than migrated into everyday locations.
• Owners. Who is responsible for each top-level folder. A folder with no owner is a decision waiting to be made, not something to copy blindly.
• Permissions. Which folders are restricted, such as HR, payroll, board or legal material, and which are open to everyone.
• Problem files. Very long folder paths, characters SharePoint does not accept in names, very large files, duplicates and file types that should not be synced, such as databases. Microsoft publishes the current limits for SharePoint and OneDrive, and the migration tools report these problems before you move.
• Linked files. Spreadsheets with links to other workbooks, Access databases, macros and templates that point at drive letters. These break when paths change and need fixing or retesting after the move.
• Applications that use the share. Scanners that save to a folder, accounting exports, mail merges or line-of-business systems that read or write to the server.

Fix permissions rather than copying them

File server permissions are often a tangle of individual names, old groups and exceptions added over many years. Copying that tangle into SharePoint keeps every old mistake and makes it harder to see. A better approach for most small organisations:

• Give access through a small number of groups that match how you work, such as all staff, managers, finance and HR, rather than to individual people.
• Keep permissions at the site or library level and avoid breaking inheritance on individual folders unless there is a real reason.
• Put genuinely sensitive material in its own site with its own members, instead of a locked folder inside a shared one.
• Set sensible sharing defaults for external guests and links, so staff do not create “anyone with the link” access by accident.
• Remove accounts for people who have left before you start. Our staff onboarding and offboarding IT checklist covers the leaver steps.

Getting this right also matters if you plan to use Microsoft 365 Copilot later, because Copilot works over whatever each person can already open. See our Copilot readiness guide.

Plan the move in stages

1. Prepare Microsoft 365. Multi-factor authentication for every account, admin accounts separated from everyday accounts, device management and sharing settings in place before data arrives. Our guide to Zero Trust and Conditional Access explains the identity basics.
2. Build the structure. Create the sites, Teams and libraries from your map, with owners and groups assigned.
3. Run a pilot. Move one team’s files first, ask them to work normally for a week or two, and fix what they find, such as broken links, missing folders or confusing names.
4. Copy in bulk, then top up. Microsoft’s free migration tools, such as the SharePoint Migration Tool and Migration Manager, can copy large file shares and then copy only what changed since the last run. This lets most of the copying happen in the background without disrupting work.
5. Cut over on a set date. Make the old share read-only, run the final top-up copy, switch scanners and applications to their new locations, and tell staff exactly where things now live.
6. Keep the old server, read-only, for a while. Agree how long you will keep it before it is switched off, and keep a final backup in line with your retention obligations.

Help staff work the new way

• Do not recreate drive letters. Show people how to open files from Teams, the SharePoint site or a shortcut in OneDrive, rather than mapping network drives to SharePoint.
• Sync selectively. The OneDrive sync app is convenient, but syncing every library to every laptop slows devices down. Sync what each person uses every day and open the rest in the browser or Teams.
• Co-authoring and version history. Show staff that several people can edit the same document at once, and how to restore an earlier version, so nobody saves “final v3 copy” files any more.
• Short, practical training. Thirty minutes per team on where things live and how to share safely is usually enough, with a simple one-page guide to keep.

Backup, retention and records

Moving to Microsoft 365 does not remove the need for a backup plan. Microsoft keeps the service running and offers recycle bins, version history and retention features, but under its shared responsibility model you remain responsible for your own data and for recovering from mistakes, malicious deletion or ransomware that syncs into the cloud. Many organisations add a separate Microsoft 365 backup and test restores on a schedule. Our backup and disaster recovery guide explains what to test and how often.

Councils and other organisations covered by the State Records Act 1997 should involve their records manager early. Agree which content is an official record, whether it belongs in the records system rather than SharePoint, and what retention settings apply before migration starts, not afterwards. Our guide to council records management and FOI workflows covers these obligations in more depth.

What it costs and how long it takes

Most of the effort is planning and clean-up, not copying. Licences many organisations already hold, such as Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Business Premium, include SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive storage, and Microsoft’s migration tools are free. The time depends on how much data there is, how messy the permissions are and how many applications rely on the old share. A small office with a tidy share can often move in a few weeks, while a council or multi-site organisation with years of history will need longer and should plan in stages. Ask for a quote for a discovery that produces the folder map, permission design and migration plan before committing to the whole job.

Questions to ask before you engage anyone

1. Will you map our old folders to new locations with our staff before moving anything?
2. How will you redesign permissions, and will you show us who has access to what before and after?
3. Which tools will you use, and how will you report files that could not be moved?
4. How will you handle linked spreadsheets, templates, scanners and applications that use the old share?
5. What is the cut-over plan, and how long will the old server be kept read-only?
6. How will our Microsoft 365 data be backed up afterwards, and when will the first restore test happen?

This article reflects common practice as at late 2026. Microsoft 365 features, limits and licensing change, so confirm current details with Microsoft documentation before you start.

If the same server also runs a line-of-business application or database, our cloud migration plan for servers and business applications covers what to do with the rest of it.

Talk to an Adelaide team

If your file server is due for replacement, talk to us about a file server migration plan or call 0402 401 584. We can quote a short discovery covering your folders, permissions, linked files and records obligations, and give you a staged plan you can use with any supplier. You can also read about our managed IT and cyber security, training and intelligent automation services, or the secure Microsoft 365 workplace reference architecture in our Learn section.