Access File Server folders from within Sharepoint

Question

) Is there a way in the current version of Sharepoint online to reference/point to/link to a network folder. So for example a user of a company accesses the company Sharepoint site and on that site there is a button/link that if they click on will lead them to a folder on a company server. For instance on the company server there is a folder with pictures and videos. When a company user logs into the company Sharepoint site they click on something and then the pictures and videos on the file server folder are visible to them?

2) If this can't be done directly with modern Sharepoint Online could it be done with a hybrid Sharepoint- on-premises and online versions - in some way so there would be an on-premises Sharepoint that would have this capability and somehow the users could access those pictures on the company file server through that combination?

3) Worst case would it be possible to do this with on-premises only - so we would have two completely different Sharepoint sites - one built with on-premises Sharepoint and one with Sharepoint online and with the on-premises Sharepoint we could be able to accomplish what we want - a way for a company user to access a folder on a network file server that has pictures/videos on it that they can view.

For historical, political reasons the folder in question can not be moved from its current file server location into Sharepoint - there is no point in pursuing that path even if it's technically feasible or not, it is not an option.

Answer 1

Hi @Service Line
You could not meet your need in SharePoint Online because the file:// protocol isn't supported for local files in the Promoted Links list. The http:// and https:// protocols are supported in the Promoted Links list in SharePoint Online. For more information, you could refer to: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/troubleshoot/administration/promoted-link-invalid-url

You could add a link in a page in SharePoint server:
Navigate to page library> click on Insert> Link> From Address> copy the network shared folder link.

Then when you click the link, you will access the network floder:

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