Cutover: Traditional and Enhanced Migration

Traditional Migration

The files are copied into Nextcloud and the originals stay in Microsoft 365. Incremental runs keep Nextcloud current until a planned switch. Best for a defined cutover date and a short coexistence.

Enhanced Migration

After a file has migrated, the SharePoint file is replaced with a small .url link to it in Nextcloud. The SharePoint storage it took is freed, users keep their familiar SharePoint and Teams locations, and every link leads to the one copy in Nextcloud. Best for cutting storage costs, a gradual transition and a long coexistence.

Traditional Migration: copy, keep in step, switch

Migrate the wave with the default rule, Add New Overwrite Existing By Newer.
Let people keep working in SharePoint. Run the jobs again — by hand, or with a recurrence — to bring over what is new or changed.
On the day of the switch, ask users to stop editing in SharePoint, run the jobs one final time, and point them to Nextcloud.

Two editable copies during coexistence

Until the switch, the same document exists in both Microsoft 365 and Nextcloud, and either can be edited. The rules for adding and overwriting files decide which copy wins at the next run; they do not merge edits. Keep the coexistence short, or make one side read-only.

The rules are described in Rules for adding and overwriting files

Why replace the files with links: storage costs and adoption

Replacing each migrated file with a link does two things a plain copy cannot: it ends the SharePoint storage bill for the content that has moved, and it turns every place users look for a file into a way into Nextcloud.

Less SharePoint storage to pay for

Microsoft 365 includes 1 TB of SharePoint storage plus 10 GB per licensed user; above that, extra storage costs about USD 2,400 per TB per year at list price. Videos, pictures, technical drawings and version history pass that easily. A link takes less than 1 KB in place of the file.

Users find their files in Nextcloud

Wherever users look for a file in SharePoint, Teams or OneDrive, its link opens it in Nextcloud, wherever it went. They keep their habits, land in Nextcloud every time, and adopt it as part of their daily work.

The costs, worked examples of the savings, and what the links do for adoption and the transition are explained in full in Why replace SharePoint files with .url links

Enhanced Migration: a .url link in place of each file

Switch on Replace SharePoint Online source Document Library item with a .url link to Nextcloud, on the Source step of a migration job in Advanced Settings. After a file has been migrated successfully, SMART Migration converts the SharePoint library item into a .url file that links to the migrated file in Nextcloud. When a user clicks it, the file opens in Nextcloud, according to their permissions there.

One active copy. The file lives in Nextcloud; no competing editable copy remains in SharePoint.
Less SharePoint storage. Each link takes less than 1 KB in place of the file, so the storage is freed as the files migrate.
A gradual transition. Users keep navigating SharePoint or Teams the way they are used to, and land in Nextcloud.
Recorded per run. The run's Source converted to .url field shows Yes when its files were replaced.

The option is offered for SharePoint Online and OneDrive sources, and for a SharePoint library whose URL is not entered yet, such as an Import job's defaults. It is not offered for SharePoint on-premises or file shares.

Before you switch it on: a backup and write permissions

Switching the option on asks for confirmation first. The confirmation sets out what you get — less SharePoint storage to pay for, and users who find their files in Nextcloud — and also says what to have in place, because the option writes back to SharePoint Online and OneDrive: each migrated file's content is removed from the source, and only the .url link is left there. That carries a small risk, so your organization should always have a backup of the source in place, so that a file can be restored if anything requires it. The App Registration used by the SMART Migration Server must have write permissions to the source; with read permissions only, the files cannot be replaced.

The link follows the file only so far

The link survives a move within the same Team Folder or user account. It breaks when the file is moved to a different Team Folder or user, because Nextcloud gives the file a new ID there. Settle the destination structure before you replace the sources with links.

Permissions at cutover

SharePoint permissions are not migrated, so the Nextcloud side has to be ready before users arrive: the members of each Team Folder set up, and tested with a few real users. A .url link opens the file only for someone who has access to it in Nextcloud.

Back to SharePoint

A cutover can be reversed. Restore, on the Action step with Advanced Settings on, of a Migration job from SharePoint Online or a file share, copies the files back from Nextcloud to the source: a file replaced by a .url link is filled again with its content, its original version history and the versions added in Nextcloud, its metadata and permissions kept; a file left in place gets the versions added in Nextcloud; and a file created in Nextcloud is copied to the source. SharePoint on-premises cannot be restored to.

Restoring to a new location, or to SharePoint on-premises, is run from the SMART Migration IDE (Integrated Development Environment), which is a little technical — ask your partner. See SMART Migration for Nextcloud

See also