Welcome
Access OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams lightning fast with Windows Explorer
Overview
KONNEKT brings files that are stored in SharePoint Online document libraries to your Windows File Explorer.
KONNEKT works online. It does not sync files to your local disk and waste space there. That is why KONNEKT does a great job in VDI environments like Citrix Virtual Apps (fka Citrix XenApp), Citrix Virtual Desktop (fka Citrix XenDesktop), Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD - fka Windows Virtual Desktop WVD) or Windows 365 (W365) Cloud PC.
KONNEKT is capable of efficiently handling big SharePoint Document Libraries containing over 300,000 files. Explore the use cases described below for additional insights.
These docs cover the technical aspects of KONNEKT. All other information can be found on https://konnekt.io/
Features
Drive Letter Mapping and Network Shares
Uses a deeply integrated network provider technology. A sophisticated implementation allows UNC paths and drive letter mapping.
Explorer Integrated
Integrates into the Windows File Explorer structure.
VDI Support (Citrix and Terminal Services)
Transparent access to any SharePoint from Citrix and Terminal Services
Connects to multiple tenants simultaneously
Support for OneDrive and SharePoint Online Multi-Geo
Supports the co-authoring of Microsoft Office 365
Use cases
Type of work
KONNEKT was designed for regular office work on Windows machines (fat clients and VDI).
When it comes to applications, where bigger amounts of data with high throughput are used, like databases, graphics design, video editing or computer aided design (CAD), KONNEKT (and SharePoint Online in general) will most probably not be a satisfactory solution.
Database-files requiring simultaneous access from multiple workstations will not work with KONNEKT (and SharePoint Online in general) by design.
File sizes
KONNEKT is relying on the performance of the network connection to SharePoint Online. Working with files in the one- or two-digit megabyte size is the main use-case.
If you are working with files in the gigabyte size, the performance of your network and SharePoint Online may be an issue. We do not recommend to use KONNEKT in such use-cases and therefore KONNEKT limits the usage of bigger files by default.
File structure
KONNEKT is doing a great job in several environments. It can handle hundreds of mappings (sites & libraries) and very big libraries with 1 million files or more.
Although there are no issues with the total amount of files or folders within one library, we recommend segmenting the data within the library in folders. A maximum amount of 1000 files per single folder is a good rule of thumb.
Search
When you use the search function in Windows File Explorer to search in KONNEKT volumes, Windows File Explorer asks for the filenames of the current folder and all subfolders. This works fine for smaller structures (<1000 items in total in all subfolders), depending on the connection speed to Microsoft 365.
Architecture
KONNEKT is a client-side tool - there is no backend. Data is transferred directly between the KONNEKT client and the SharePoint Online services. Thus, the data neither runs over external systems, nor are they stored on the publisher systems.
KONNEKT uses the native Microsoft APIs (Microsoft SharePoint API and Microsoft Graph API) with standard Microsoft authentication to access Microsoft 365. This means that conditional access is also effective for access from KONNEKT to SharePoint Online.
KONNEKT vs. OneDrive Sync Client
The main differences between Microsoft OneDrive Sync Client and KONNEKT are:
Are the files synced to the local machine?
Yes
(at least partially)
No
Automatically map the SharePoint volumes, the user has access to
No
(Users mark libraries to be synced manually)
Works in VDI environments (e.g. Citrix, AVD/WVD, Windows 365)
limited
Yes
Support for UNC addressing
No
Yes
You have the option to use KONNEKT side-by-side with Microsoft 365 or stand-alone by replacing the OneDrive client. But in every configuration KONNEKT is a helpful leap to the Office 365 ecosytem (Office, Outlook, SharePoint,...) by providing not only the documents and data but also the right options to jump directly to the Sharepoint Online Site, providing the links to share or make the versions of a file accessible.
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