IT Tips & Tricks
Don’t Create a SharePoint Migration Plan Without Using This Free Tool!
18 July 2023
A SharePoint migration can be a daunting task (understatement) for any IT department. With thousands of files, links and URLs involved, even a minor mistake can cost a company a great deal of time and money, not to mention overall disruption to its operations or the impact on your professional reputation. So, a free tool that can help save time and money and reduce disruption is worth looking into, right?
Obviously, the migration process involves moving files and folders from one server or SharePoint environment to another. This first part is unavoidable. However, when files are moved, their associated links often break, which creates significant problems for the organization as broken links can lead to the loss of critical data, downtime, decreased productivity, potential revenue loss, and costly errors. And this part is avoidable. How?
Know any organizations that appreciate their money going up in smoke? We don't either.
Eagle-Eyed Insight
Part of the planning process prior to your migration should include an assessment of the links contained in your data. In fact, even if you’ve already completed your migration and currently have lost or missing data, it’s not too late for an assessment that can identify problem areas for you.
Link Reporter™ is a free tool that can do an in-depth eagle-eyed assessment for you, and give you detailed feedback on the state of your links, enterprise-wide. Before we explain exactly what Link Reporter can do for you, we’d like to take a second to define two key terms, “parent files” and “child files.”
A parent file is a file that contains one or more links. A child file is a file that is pointed to by a link in a parent file. There, that wasn’t too painful, was it? Okay, now let’s get into what Link Reporter does for you.
The detailed feedback we mentioned above comes in the form of three different — but equally insightful — reports.
The Broken Link Report lists all your parent files that contain one or more broken links and identifies exactly which links are broken in each file.
The Regular Report lists every parent file plus all the child files it links to, giving you a complete report of your linked data.
The Cross Reference Report lists every child file — followed by a list of all the parent files that point to it — so that you can determine, for example, whether or not it’s safe to delete a particular child file.
How about an eagle-eyed assessment that leaves no detail undiscovered?
The Gift of Free
Link Reporter is the equivalent of your linked data getting a full medical exam, which gives you stunning clarity and a better understanding of the content and link structure within your SharePoint environment. This allows you to make informed decisions and maximize the effectiveness of your information management system.
By providing comprehensive reporting on the links within your SharePoint environment, this free tool identifies potential problems for you. This means that broken links can be quickly identified, located, and repaired, which maintains the integrity of your linked data and means that users are able to access the content they need.
The result is a dramatic reduction in critical data loss, downtime, decreased productivity, and potential revenue loss. End-users won’t be blowing up the IT department with complaints, and your boss won’t be giving you the stink eye. That’s a pretty good outcome for a free tool!
Prevention & Cure: An Option
Once you’ve downloaded and put Link Reporter through its paces, should it transpire
that you have zillions of broken links which you’d prefer to have automatically
repaired (rather than manually), you may want to take a look at LinkFixer Advanced™.
When life gives you free stuff, take it and run!
This powerful software is best used prior to a migration to protect your linked data. If, however, you’ve already completed a migration and are faced with large quantities of missing data that you want to have restored — rapidly — then consider LinkFixer Advanced your “disaster recovery” tool of choice.
Visit LinkTek.com to access your free download of Link Reporter. Alternatively, you can pick the brain of a knowledgeable Service Consultant at 727-442-1822.
With a freebie like Link Reporter, you’ve got nothing to lose, and you know the saying about “free”: When life gives you free stuff, take it and run!
Need a hand? (Yeah, we went there.) Link Reporter is like an x-ray machine for your linked data.
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