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Linking Documents in SharePoint 2007
I recently met with a client that asked if you could like documents in SharePoint. I had many internal reactions the client asked but one specific memory stood out for me. A year ago I performed a migration from a document management system called DocuShare to SharePoint 2007.

Docushare Migration to SharePoint 2007
         There is very little out there on Docushare Migration, I thought maybe I would take the time to write a paragraph about this. I'm sure that Quest Software and DocAve have something to migrate Docushare. As far as I know they don't but I could be wrong. They do have powerful products that are very very good. Unfortunately for a one time migration it can be very pricy. I don't want to advertise those products cause I don't feel that's my job. Check out the feature sets and decide for your self. What I used to migrate the content was to use a custom tool that my company developed to migrate content over. Not only did it migrate content over but it was able to correct any potential errors that are caused in SharePoint. It was able to take folder structures in Docushare and create sharepoint sites and document libraries right from a UI we designed.

          Potential errors we fixed before migration with the custom tool:
              1) errors in naming conventions Ex. (*&*(*%^$#@!) ...etc...
              2) 255 character length. There were situations where the folder structure was too deep and sites had to be broken up into multiple sub sites.


           The only problem we could not fix was linked Documents!!!


   This brings e back to the linking in documents in SharePoint. I highly recommend against Linking documents in SP. I think the plan should always be to design a taxonomy that makes sense and stored documents in a logical grouping. I also understand that there scenarios where linking is cannot be avoided. In the case of the client I am involved with, it appears that this is the case.

How to link documents in SharePoint.

          Documents can be linked by creating a content type that has a parent or inheriting content type of "Document", when you create a content type.


Once you create the content type. Add this content type to your document library. The process is pretty self explanatory after that. You can create new entries in your document library that are not documents but actual links to other documents or document libraries. It does not have to link to a specific document, it is a generic link so you can be creative and do what you want.

  Things to consider:

      Manageability of links - Once you start adding links you will have to manage the change of these links, Location of documents, moving of document libraries , and sites. SharePoint has the ability to re-link and fix broken links so this is something I'm going to have to test and see how links to documents would react to moving document libraries or subsites. Even a plain back up and restore to another environment!

      Use Metadata - Although I did not demonstrate it in this post, use as much metadata in your content type. Make sure you capture as much information about your document and locations. Trust me it will go a long way to managing these links.

      Have a Logic - what I mean by this is have a system of linking documents. One of the most frustrating parts about the docushare migration was that it was an unmanaged system, when it came to links. There was no rhyme or reason to the actual linking. Have a clear plan as to wich documents and how and where they will be referenced from. That way, even if you don't know the actual link , you can have an idea of what the linking scheme is like.


    I will be performing other tests on linking as I have to weigh out the pros and cons to this linking issue and I will post them up for everyone.

    Juan
posted on Monday, July 20, 2009 10:46 AM Print
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# re: Linking Documents in SharePoint 2007
Wesley Hatfield
11/16/2009 9:57 AM
Is there any chance you can share the custom migration tool?

I represent a non-profit organization that is considering migrating our existing electronic client records from DocuShare 4.X to SharePoint.

Available tools, as you have suggested, are too pricey for a one time use such as ours and we lack the in-house developers to create our own.
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# re: Linking Documents in SharePoint 2007
Juan
11/30/2009 2:43 PM
Wesley , there are 2 options, There is a microsoft transporter suite which is free, and might do the trick for you. Try seeing if that will do the trick for you. If not, then our docushare migration tool will for sure do the trick. The problem is, that it is not mine, and it is owned by the company I work for. If you would like information about it and maybe what it will take for you to use it, send me an email and I will get back to you asap.
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# re: Linking Documents in SharePoint 2007
Jo
2/16/2010 5:47 AM
Hi there,

We are trying to accomplish the exact same thing. Is there any way you could share the information about the custom tool you wrote? Is it on codeplex?
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# re: Linking Documents in SharePoint 2007
TiagoP
12/8/2011 8:42 AM
There is a free feature for linking documents in SharePoint. This one if simple,you can pass metadata and the link is http://easylinkdocs.codeplex.com/

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