Site/subsite document structure to document folder/subfolder hierarchy

Question

Hi Microsoft Team

Our company is in the process of switching from a "legacy / on-site" file-server to a OneDrive, Teams and Sharepoint cloud-based solution.

We are having a major issue regarding the folder structure of our sync'd folders for our Sites and Sub-Sites on Windows Explorer.

For the most part, our folder structure on our legacy file-server was split into departments which we have now added as General Files to the corresponding teams/groups we have created on our exchange for each of these departments to mimic a legacy file-server thus making transitioning for all our teams really simple.

The major issue is using Sites and Sub-Sites to manage our projects within our company as it does not seem like there is a way to create a Site/Sub-Site folder structure within Windows Explorer when Sync'ing folders and Libraries.

Our company does hundreds of projects a year. We would like to have one central Projects Site with a Sub-Site for each project on SharePoint so that we can use the Tasks feature to assign tasks and manage our project timelines on SharePoint as well as separate our project files on a per project basis.

We would like for our Sync'd folder structure to be as follows "Projects/<Project Title>/<Files and Folders>" (or "Site/Sub-Site/<Files and Folders>") as we often reference previous projects for information and specifications. See attached image of our legacy server structure: 

It is unreasonable to expect everyone in our company to Sync 2000 separate Document Libraries for each project (or Sub-Site of the Projects Site) to be able to reference and manipulate these files within Windows Explorer. Instead we would like to combine our previous folder structure "Projects/<Project Title>/<Files and Folders>" with the Sites/Sub-Sites SharePoint functionality. Please see our current Sync'd folder layout structure:

We should be able to have our organization as a Site Collection (representing our file-server root folder on our legacy file-server) with departments being Sub-Sites and subsequently Sub-Folders (for example "IT Team" which is now its own Site Collection instead of being a sub-site).

So we would like to have the ability to Sync one folder, namely, "Projects - Documents" as seen in above image and have it have all the individual Sub-Sites' documents grouped therein as sub-folders avoiding having to individually Sync every single Project Sub-site folder for each individual employee to allow them to access these files in Windows Explorer. Using the current setup creates a chaotic mess with projects mixed with departments, there is no structure to our Windows Explorer despite there being a very rigid structure within SharePoint.

This way transitioning for all our teams and employees will be easy and project managers can utilize all functions as intended. Currently we will need to jump around between Sharepoint, Teams, Onedrive and Windows Explorer and this is chaos to implement and maintain. This GREATLY decreases efficiency.

Is our only recourse to go back to using Monday.com for project management or is there a simple way to achieve our desired outcome without having to create custom scripts or C# applications to automate these things.

Please advise.

Kind Regards

Carl du Preez

Answer 1

Hi Carl du Preez,

First, I would like to appreciate your patience and efforts taken to explain your requirement in detail.

From the description provided, we totally understand your concerns about the structure of SharePoint Document Libraries in the Windows File Explorer.

Generally, when you sync the different document libraries in the SharePoint Online Site, each document library will be created as a folder in the OneDrive path of the File Explorer but not as the sub-folder under the SharePoint site. Since each Document library will be created as a folder in the File Explorer, the Document Library in the SharePoint sites will also have same behavior.

I am sorry to convey that the structure when you are syncing the Document libraries in the SharePoint Online are by design and there is no out of box way to change it. I do understand the inconvenience caused and I request you add your idea in the SharePoint Online UserVoice as related team can take into consideration about it.

Appreciate your understanding and stay safe! 😊

Best Regards,

Chitrahaas