User’s Guide — LinkFixer Advanced

What is this chapter for?

This chapter is to answer the following questions in broad terms:

• Where do I start with LinkFixer Advanced?

• What does my overall migration look like? (What are all the big steps I will need to run?)

Fundamentals

LinkFixer Advanced’s primary focus is keeping your links working and getting your broken links working.

Looking at it in its simplest form, you could use LinkFixer Advanced to perform any of the following actions:

• Find out all about your files and links.
• Prepare your working (not broken) links for migration and automatic repair post-migration.
• Fix broken links (before or after migration).
• Modify links in virtually any way. (LinkFixer Advanced offers multiple ways to modify your links.)
• Move your files from one place to another, even from one storage system to another.
• Rename your files.

How do I use LinkFixer Advanced to help with my specific situation?

Let’s start by listing some common scenarios where LinkFixer Advanced can bring substantial value:

• Migrating from network shares to cloud storage, including SharePoint Online.
• Migrating files from one cloud storage system to another cloud storage system. For example, migrating from Box.com to SharePoint Online.
• Migrating files from SharePoint On-Premises (self-hosted SharePoint) to SharePoint Online (cloud-hosted SharePoint)
• Re-organizing files and folders in many storage systems, including SharePoint Online.
• Fixing broken links regardless of when they were broken
• Fixing links that broke due to a less-than-optimum migration that already happened before you knew about LinkFixer Advanced.

There are tons of other scenarios where LinkFixer Advanced can deliver deep value. The above are good start.

LinkFixer Advanced offers multiple processes. Which ones do I need for my specific situation?

LinkFixer Advanced is not just powerful — it is also versatile. Its processes can work together to get the result you need, even in extremely difficult situations.

Tip: You can use just the parts of LinkFixer Advanced that you need. You don’t have to use every process just because that process is available in LinkFixer Advanced.

All that matters is what you need in order to meet your goals.

Process Overview (“Cheat Sheet”)

Now we’ll list each process and tell you when (generally speaking) you would use that. This is a sort of “cheat sheet” to give you an idea of when you would use a given LinkFixer Advanced process.

• Scan Only: Run this as the first thing you do with LinkFixer Advanced. This will collect data about all your links, which will help you make great decisions.
• Inoculate: Your links work. You want to move your files someplace, which will break a lot of your links. Run Inoculate to prepare your links so they can be automatically fixed after you break the links by moving or renaming the files. Inoculated links are considered “protected” as they can be automatically fixed by the Cure process in the future.
• Cure: Use this to automatically fix broken links which were inoculated before you broke them.
• Modify Links: Use this for unprotected links that aren’t working.

Or use this to do things like making relative links become absolute links (or vice versa), changing the capitalization of links, and so on. There’s a lot of power here and LinkFixer Advanced gives you a lot of control.

• Move/Rename: Use this to move or rename files with LinkFixer Advanced. If your links were already working before you run Move/Rename, the Move/Rename process can automatically keep those links working as part of the process. This way you don’t have an extra step of fixing your links after moving them.

Move/Rename Tip: Even if you don’t use our Move/Rename feature, you can still get LinkFixer Advanced’s substantial link repair benefits.

If you need to use a different software product to do the file moving part of your migration, that is totally okay. You can still use LinkFixer Advanced to keep your links working.

Perhaps you have some product (free or otherwise) which has unique file moving features which are important to you.

In this case, you would run Inoculate (before moving your files, while their links are still working) and Cure (after moving your files, to automatically repair the links broken by moving the files with that other software product).

And if you have some links which were already broken before you moved your files, you can use LinkFixer Advanced’s Modify Links to fix those links.

Do whatever fits your needs. And know that LinkFixer Advanced will help you fix your links even in situations that you may have assumed were hopeless.

• Reports: Use this to run reports from information already stored in the LinkFixer Advanced database about your files and links. Use this any time you wish.
• Clean: Only run this if instructed to do so by LinkTek Support. It removes inoculation data from files and links, which is rarely needed.

Okay. I know what the LinkFixer Advanced processes are. Now what?

Well, what do you need to get done? What’s your definition of a successful migration and what are the barriers to that? What’s your timeline?

We suggest you contact LinkTek Support (727-442-1822) so our LinkFixer Advanced experts can give you advice tailored to your exact needs. We will swiftly advise you and set you off on a successful path intended to help you with whatever is most important to you.

Migrations are huge and seldom simple. Can LinkFixer Advanced help me with messy situations?

Short answer: Absolutely! LinkFixer Advanced can help with the messiest of link repair situations.

Migrations are messy, mostly because they’re large. Migrations tend to involve a lot of files and a lot of users who depend on those files.

Our users tell us there is seldom enough calendar time (and personnel) budgeted for getting migrations done right. Plus your colleagues probably expect their links to be working again first thing in the morning, no matter how huge and impossible the migration was that you performed the night before (or over the weekend, or over the holiday).

Here are some especially messy (but also very common) situations which LinkFixer Advanced users frequently run into. LinkFixer Advanced can help with all of these situations and a million more:

• You have a combination of broken links and working links. You haven’t moved your files yet.
• You have a combination of broken links and working links. You have already moved your files.
• You have no idea how many broken links you have, before or after your migration.
• You already migrated some or all of your files (without using LinkFixer Advanced) and broke a lot of links. You didn’t inoculate those links first. Maybe you didn’t even have LinkFixer Advanced until after you moved your files.
• Some migration vendor (selling a service or software, or both) told you they could fix your links. But they let you down — they either missed too many links, or they were too slow. And your users (and your management) want the links working now.
• Your migration is so big it will take months or years.
• Your migration is so big you have to do it in pieces.
• You need to target specific file types or specific links.
• You have an impossible deadline for completing your migration (including fixing your links).

Confidence

If you have read this entire chapter, we hope that you now:

• • Have confidence that LinkFixer Advanced is serious about fixing your links.
  • Have at least a rough idea of how LinkFixer Advanced can help you.
  • Know where to get started with LinkFixer Advanced. Hint: Get started by running Scan Only to find out about your links. This will tell you if they’re working or broken and it will tell you which files link to which other files.

• Know that we will help you every step of the way.

• Know how to reach us. Hint: Email LinkTek Support or call LinkTek Support at 727-442-1822.