SharePoint connection and connectivity issues can be caused by incorrect Sharepoint access permissions, incorrect SharePoint configuration or firewall permissions (when the SharePoint server is hosted on premises or hosted in a private cloud.)

Incorrect Sharepoint Access Permissions

When connecting to SharePoint, Files.com will only be able to access those SharePoint resources that have been granted to the credentials being used to connect.

Make sure that the SharePoint account that is being used to authenticate for the Remote Server connection has been granted permission to access the SharePoint resources that you are trying to access. Check that the SharePoint permissions for the account are correct. Log in directly to SharePoint with the same account and verify that you can access the required resources. Contact your SharePoint administrator if you cannot access the required resources successfully.

Incorrect SharePoint Configuration

SharePoint can be configured to present and arrange data in multiple ways. Verify the exact configuration of your SharePoint server determine the exact location of the resource that you are trying to connect to.

For example, SharePoint can present folders as "sites", "libraries", "shared documents", and "pages". Sometimes these terms are used interchangeably even though they represent very different resources within SharePoint.

When setting up a Remote Mount to SharePoint, leave the Remote folder setting blank and select the Choose a different folder option. This will present you with the available resources on the SharePoint server and allow you to navigate to, and select, the exact resource folder that you want to connect to.

When manually entering the Remote folder path, make sure that it is valid and that it can be accessed by the credentials used in the Remote Server configuration.

SharePoint resource paths typically look something like this: companyname.sharepoint.com/resource/resource_name, where resource can be "sites", "Shared Documents", or the name of a Library.

Make sure you use the correct resource path for the resource type that you are trying to access. For example, a SharePoint site resource path should look something like companyname.sharepoint.com/sites/MySite whereas a Library resource path should look something like companyname.sharepoint.com/MyLibrary instead.

If in doubt, start by leaving the Remote folder setting blank and select the Choose a different folder option to navigate to the required resource. Contact your SharePoint administrator if you cannot access the required resources.

SharePoint Folder Does Not Appear When Browsing During Remote Mount Setup

When configuring a Remote Mount, or Remote Sync, Files.com allows you to browse SharePoint for the available resources and the contained folder structure within the resource.

However, SharePoint can hide resources so that they won't be presented via their API.

If you have a resource that you know is accessible, but cannot see it within the folder browser, then you can manually enter the full path to the resource. For example, companyname.sharepoint.com/sites/HiddenSite/path/to/folder .

Authentication Issues

For authentication to succeed, your SharePoint site must use a verified domain, as required by Microsoft. The instructions for verifying your domain can be found on the Microsoft Learn site: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/users/domains-manage

Make sure that your SharePoint domain is verified prior to attempting to authenticate.

The user account being used to authenticate must contain a valid email address. The email address must be associated with the verified domain. By default, the domain of the email address should match the verified domain. However, Microsoft Entra might be configured to allow email addresses with domains that differ from the verified domain.

The following error message will be logged if your user's email domain doesn't match the SharePoint domain:

Ensure your user's email domain is registered and matches the user's principal domain name.

Rate Limit Throttling

Microsoft implements rate limits for the number of connections that can be made to SharePoint.

If you use a Remote Sync, or an Automation, with large quantities of files to a SharePoint remote server then you may see errors such as this in the logs:

Sharepoint errored while trying to Connect: 'Activity Limit Reached: The request has been throttled'

Files.com will react to these rate limit warnings by slowing down reconnection attempts and reattempting the actions again later.

The rate limit is determined by Microsoft and we are unable to know what the limit is until it's reached.

Your SharePoint license plan will determine the Application Throttling Limit that is imposed on our connections.

If your SharePoint license plan has a low rate limit then try to configure your Remote Syncs and Automations to run less frequently, target fewer files and folders, or both.

Working with a rate limit is somewhat of a science project in that you'll need to try various configurations and permutations to find the ones that work best while not triggering the rate limit throttle.

Files Don't Sync As Expected

Files stored in Sharepoint become locked for various reasons. If your Sharepoint instance has file checkin and checkout enabled, checking out a file for editing will lock that file. When checkin/checkout is not enabled, a file that is being edited in Sharepoint remains locked until the user closes the file. Similarly, when multiple people edit the file at the same time, it will be locked to prevent conflicting changes. If an antivirus scan or any other external program opens the file, it may be locked just as if it were being edited on Sharepoint.

Locked files cannot be synced by Remote Server Sync processes. The External Logs will not list files that were skipped by the sync due to locks in Sharepoint.

If a file will not sync because it is locked in Sharepoint, see if any users have it checked out. Sometimes, a file may be open in Microsoft Office Online in a separate browser tab, which would also lock the file. Check whether the cache within the Microsoft Office Upload Center needs to be cleared.

Firewall Permissions

If your SharePoint server is located on premises, or is hosted in a private cloud, then check that location's firewall configuration to make sure that connections from Files.com are allowed.