Network Drive Connection Options
Zee Drive supports connecting a network drive to a variety of data sources in Microsoft 365. This guide reviews the connection options available and configuration settings for each.
A network drive is set up and connected to Microsoft 365 via the Zee Drive administration console. See Set Up Your First Network Drive And User for a step-by-step guide on setting up a network drive and where to access the drive connection options.
Let's have a quick discussion about permissions in SharePoint Online. Several of the connection options will require you to browse SharePoint Online to select sites and document libraries. Zee Drive can only access what your Microsoft 365 user can access in SharePoint Online. Therefore, if a resource in SharePoint Online is not showing in the Zee Drive administration console, then you may not have permissions to that resource. Contact your Microsoft 365 or SharePoint Online administrator for assistance.
Document Library
A document library is a file repository in SharePoint Online. Ultimately, all connection options lead to a document library one way or another as this is the work horse of SharePoint Online where files are stored.
When connecting to a document library, you can connect to the document library root, or to a subfolder within the document library:
Select the "Document library" option from the "Connect To" options then click the Choose button
A busy indicator will show briefly whilst Zee Drive retrieves your root level SharePoint Online sites and displays them. You can now browse your sites for the document library, or folder, to connect to. A forward slash / indicates a site. If you can't find the site you are expecting to see, click the blue link "Can't find your team site below?"
Following from the previous step if you clicked the blue link, you can now look up your site directly. Enter only the site path name in the edit box, not the full site URL. Click Validate to verify its existence then click Add to return to the browsing page
Browse for the document library, or subfolder, that you want to connect your network drive to. When you have located it, click the Select button. In The example below, I have selected the Companies subfolder in the Documents document library in the subsite named Finance
Now click the Create button to complete the connection of your new network drive to a document library or folder
Team Site
A team site is a SharePoint Online site. A site contains document libraries and other sites (subsites). The team site connection option will show the document libraries of the site and their files and folders. It will not show subsites of the site; to view the subsites too, choose the team site hierarchy connection option.
Select the "Team site" option from the "Connect To" options then click the Choose button
A busy indicator will show briefly whilst Zee Drive retrieves your root level SharePoint Online sites and displays them. You can now browse for the site to connect to. If you can't find the site you are expecting to see, click the blue link "Can't find your team site below?"
Following from the previous step if you clicked the blue link, you can now look up your site directly. Enter only the site path name in the edit box, not the full site URL. Click Validate to verify its existence then click Add to return to the browsing page
Select your team site to connect to then click the Select button
Click the Options button to change how document libraries are displayed in the network drive
The connection options page will show. You can choose how document libraries will be represented in the network drive; either show the document library URL path as the folder name or the document library title. The URL path refers to the path name that shows in your browser address bar. For example, the default library that is created in a site typically has this as the URL path: https://[your tenant name].sharepoint.com/Shared Documents/ in this case, the folder name would be set to "Shared Documents" but the document library title may be entirely different. E.g. Documents or Accounts or Projects. The document library title can easily be modified in SharePoint Online. Therefore choosing the title will give you control over the name of the folder that appears in your network drive. However, it will also mean that if the title is changed in SharePoint Online, a user may unwittingly and unexpectedly rename the respective folder in your network drive, whereas choosing the URL path would provide more stability. After making your selection, click the Confirm button
Click the Create button to complete creation of your network drive
Team Site Hierarchy
The team site hierarchy connection option is much the same as the team site connection option except that subsites will be shown too, not just document libraries and the files and folders. See Team Site for a step-by-step guide as the approach to connect to a team site hierarchy is almost identical except that you should select the "Team site hierarchy" connection option as below.
Shared With Me
The shared with me connection option is a dynamic view of the files and folders that have been shared with you by other users in your organisation from their OneDrive for Business. See Set Up Drives For File Sharing for more information on how to configure the shared with me network drive and how it works in the context of sharing files and having files shared with you.
OneDrive For Business Of The Signed In User
The connection option "OneDrive for Business of the signed in user" is a dynamic connection; it will connect the network drive to your own OneDrive for Business. I.e. of the user that is signed in to Windows. So the contents of the network drive depends on whom is signed in to Windows.
You can think of this connection option as equivalent to a My Documents folder or a user drive.
This connection option is also used to facilitate Windows folder redirections. See Redirect Windows Folders to OneDrive for Business on how to set up folder redirections.
OneDrive For Business Of A Specific User
Whilst unconventional, as OneDrive for Business is intended as user storage rather than shared storage, connecting a network drive to a specific user's OneDrive for Business can leverage the 1TB storage that comes with OneDrive and facilitate collaboration between members of an organisation on a shared project folder.
Select the "OneDrive for Business of a specific user" option from the "Connect To" options then click the Choose button
Enter the user's name that you want to connect to. Zee Drive will search your Microsoft 365 for matching users
Select the user and click the Next button
You can now browse the user's OneDrive for Business. You can connect to the root folder, or a subfolder. If nothing shows, then likely you do not have permissions to their OneDrive for Business. Either the user will need to assign permissions for you to browse their OneDrive, or if you are a SharePoint Online administrator or Microsoft 365 tenant administrator, you can assign permissions yourself. After you locate the folder you want to connect to, click the Select button. You will return to the connection screen where you can then continue to complete the drive creation process
Modern Team Sites
The modern team sites option will connect the network drive to all team sites that show in the Microsoft 365 Teams app.
Below we can see a representation of how modern teams look in the Microsoft Teams app, compared to how they are represented in Windows File Explorer when connected to a network drive. Each Team displays as a root folder in the network drive, and the channels as sub folders. In the case of a private channel, it will be represented as a folder in the root of the network drive.
Select the "Modern team sites" option from the "Connect To" options then click the Options button
The default option is to connect only to the default document library of each team. This is the typical scenario. However, if you have created other document libraries and sites in the team, you can optionally connect to the entire site hierarchy with the option "Connect to all document libraries and site hierarchy". Click the Confirm or Go Back button depending on whether you want to keep or discard your choice, then you can complete the creation of your network drive
Hub Site
SharePoint Online hub sites are a convenient means of grouping site collections in to hierarchical structures. As can be seen from below, the SharePoint Online Administration Centre presents hub sites in a flat structure but allows the administrator to configure relationships between the hub sites, whereas when a hub site is connected to a network drive, it is presented in a hierarchical folder structure in Windows File Explorer.
Select the "Hub site" option from the "Connect To" options then click the Choose button
A busy indicator will show briefly whilst Zee Drive retrieves the list of hub sites from Microsoft 365. Browse the hub site hierarchy for the hub site to connect to. Zee Drive will show the hub site you select and the hierarchy below it in the network drive. After selecting the hub site, click the Select button
A hub site connection supports several options. Click the Options button
If your sites contain only a single document library, then for a simpler, cleaner folder structure, choose the option "Connect only to the default document library of each associated site" otherwise if they have multiple document libraries you need to access choose the "Connect to all document libraries" option. If your hub sites are merely containers for sites, then leave the check box checked "Hide hub site document libraries" - otherwise if your hub sites contain files that you need to access, then uncheck the box. After making your selections, click the Confirm button to return to the connection page, and then you can complete the creation of your hub site network drive
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