sharing

[andy23]

Hi all,
a customer of mine would like to have files and folders available from two locations in different cities.
Basically, he and his secretary need to share the same files.
I'm not sure what to suggest, especially since the data is sensitive and I'd like a professional solution.
What do you recommend?
Of course, I also need to think about backup.
They already have a NAS, but they've never used it.
I don't know if it's suitable for this purpose. Dropbox? I don't know.
Thank you

 

[Blues]

Do they have Office365 w/ SharePoint? I personally hate SharePoint but that is because I rarely see it used with proper understanding. There are countless solutions to this problem but it is really difficult to give an answer without knowing more about what they are sharing who might be the "owner" if anyone of the shared files and the clients ability to understand file sharing. I have seen shares used poorly and many of the individuals sharing are confused constantly. You also need to know who if anyone else will ever need access to these files as it means more people to train or knowing who needs what level access to the files which you need to know even between the two currently known users.

 

[andy23]

Hi Blues,
they don't have 365, but I can suggest it.
The data is processed by the two of them: one is the father and the secretary is his daughter.
They are both owners, but from different cities, so I need to share.
They have company data, land registry, property data, and other sensitive information. But still, only they have access and no one else.
Thank you for suggestions

 

[frase]

NAS & Cloudsync if the NAS is Synology or QNAP would be an option since they have the NAS.
One can enable sharing for a folder/s, (NAS>PC>NAS), if you have never used Cloudsync in this manner it can be a learning curve; heaps of tutorials around. Though if you are unsure of what you are doing, I probably would look to other methods due to the sensitivy of documents as everything needs to be secure. As a NAS-based multi-site sync setup can be secure, but only if configured correctly.

A few questions -

NAS brand and model?
One NAS or two? One in each office is the better option.

 

[britechguy]

I'd absolutely suggest M365 for this use case. If you set things up correctly (and that would be using Teams to manage SharePoint so that it appears as "just another folder" in File Explorer) you can get everything you say you need and more.

M365 handles collaboration on the same data files very, very well, including allowing simultaneous editing and merging the results. Heaven knows starting at $12.50/month for M365 Business Standard you're going to be hard pressed to get anything cheaper or better that gets everything they need plus more.

Was just tweaking the tenant for my client that's got a tenant with 2 seats of M365 Business Standard and 3 more of Business Basic this morning.

Another member gave me instructions for getting SharePoint into File Explorer for end users and being managed via Teams, which is the easiest configuration in a situation such as yours. You can download it here: Integrating SharePoint Storage Into File Explorer for M365 Business Users.docx
Text is below, but there's also a screenshot in the source file that makes the narrative clearer.
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Getting the SharePoint Storage Into File Explorer for M365 Business Users

by Brian Mayo (with modifications by Brian Vogel)

Getting the “blue skyscraper” representing SharePoint storage pinned into File Explorer is a step you perform manually. It can be automated, but for small clients with very few seats it’s just as easy to get SharePoint storage pinned into File Explorer by hand.

First...you need to have OneDrive signed in and syncing the user to their M365 account because OneDrive also drives the Teams (Sharepoint) file sync.

While signed in as the user, launch the Teams app. Click on the Team you previously created and to which you assigned all users who will be using SharePoint for file sharing. Click on the General channel (or additional channel that you made) and then the Files tab, then look for the Sync button. If you are viewing on a wide screen monitor then if Teams is stretched out it will show, otherwise, click the ellipsis/more [. . .] button to the right to reveal the Sync button. Click Sync and you’ll see the sync happen and find the blue skyscraper pinned into File Explorer. You can also right click on that icon in File Explorer then choose Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut) from the context menu to create a direct desktop shortcut to the SharePoint storage for the user. That can also be pinned to the taskbar and/or Start Menu for maximum ease of access from anywhere.

 

[timeshifter]

What @britechguy is suggesting is the cleanest most professional way to do it. Each user will need the 365 subscription. They'll need their own domain with that, so their email addresses will be user@companyname.com. Set up a cloud backup of their 365 accounts, generally about $3 / month per user. That'll back up not just their email but also all of their shared files (Sharepoint).

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

If they already have Microsoft 365 accounts....I'd use that.
OneDrive is for what we used to call "folder redirection"....to back up each users desktop, documents, and pictures...so they don't get lost if a computer blows up.
Sharepoint....is the 365 version of the "central file server". Can be complex for some, BUT...it's made so dang easy peasy via Teams. You use Teams to create each root share, and permissions. It reaches into Sharepoint and "does the complex work for you". I have so many businesses that "had a file server" that I retired years ago, moving their files repository to Teams (Sharepoint). And InTune pushes out the syncs (like a group policy to map network drives).

 

[britechguy]

Sharepoint....is the 365 version of the "central file server". Can be complex for some, BUT...it's made so dang easy peasy via Teams. You use Teams to create each root share, and permissions. It reaches into Sharepoint and "does the complex work for you". I have so many businesses that "had a file server" that I retired years ago, moving their files repository to Teams (Sharepoint). And InTune pushes out the syncs (like a group policy to map network drives).

And I'll thank you, again, for all your assistance in helping me to do this the first time. My client who used to have an on-prem server could not be happier with the end result having M365/Teams/SharePoint doing all "the heavy lifting."

They don't even back up their data (in the strict, conventional sense) since Microsoft has stated that all OneDrive/SharePoint storage is triple redundant and because if you delete something from OneDrive it goes into the 30-day recycle bin for OneDrive. They've never once needed (yet) to recover a deleted file and, in effect, OneDrive/SharePoint is backed up from "first and only copy" data loss by Microsoft (and also, if they choose the "Always keep on this device" option such that 2 physical copies always exist, one local and the other synced from the local to SharePoint.