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Microsoft Teams archiving with CtrlSync

Teams documents that outlive the team

A project's documents are written in Microsoft Teams, and when the team is deleted they go with it. CtrlSync files them in M‑Files under their project, with their metadata and access rights, on any M‑Files edition, in the cloud or on-premise.

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A Microsoft Teams files tab showing a project team's folders, and below it the same project in M-Files with its documents listed, each window labelled with its program

Filed in M‑Files while the team works

An archive that depends on people remembering to file has gaps. CtrlSync checks the team on a schedule you set and copies its documents to M‑Files, so nobody has to remember.

  • Files from folders and channel posts — The files in the team's folders are copied, and so are the files people post in channel conversations.
  • A new version for every change — When someone edits a document in Teams, M‑Files saves the change as a new version.
  • Who wrote it comes with it — Whoever created or last changed a file in Teams is recorded on the document in M‑Files.
Diagram: documents in a Microsoft Teams window are picked up by CtrlSync, which synchronises them automatically and adds metadata as they land in an M-Files repository

Why Teams documents need an archive

Sooner or later someone asks for a document from a finished project, and by then its team may have been tidied away.

Knowledge for the next project

What people worked out in Teams is still there for the project that follows, and for bringing someone new up to speed.

An answer when someone asks

When an auditor or a customer asks for a project's documents, you will find them together under the project in M‑Files, showing who wrote each one and when.

One search across every team

Full-text search covers every synchronised team and site at once, so people find a document by its project or by what it says, whichever team it was written in.

Beside the rest of your records

M‑Files organises documents by metadata instead of folders, so what came from Teams sits beside your other documents and is found the same way.

See a team's documents arrive in M‑Files

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A team is connected in three steps

After the third step CtrlSync looks after the team on its own, for as long as the team exists.

  1. Pick the team

    Any team will do, new or existing. A standard folder structure inside it helps, because the folders decide how each document is filed.

  2. Link it to its project

    The team's documents will be kept under the project it works for in M‑Files.

  3. Start archiving

    Documents that match your rules arrive in M‑Files with their metadata, and each later change in Teams saves a new version.

Each document arrives ready to be found

A copy in a second place is only an archive if people can find things in it and rely on what they find.

Metadata filled in for you

Rules read where the file sits and what it is called, and fill in the document's metadata, such as its project, team and channel.

Filed as the right kind of document

A document in the team's Reports folder can arrive in M‑Files as a report, and each kind of document can start in the M‑Files workflow you choose.

Deleted in Teams, still in M‑Files

Once a document has been synchronised, deleting it in Teams leaves the copy in M‑Files, marked as deleted at the source.

Edited only where you allow it

You decide whether archived documents can be edited from M‑Files. If they can, the file is checked out in Teams while the edit is in progress.

Access rights come along

Documents arrive in M‑Files with their access rights preserved, like everything else in the vault.

Stored where your policy says

Documents can be stored on-premise, in your own cloud or in M‑Files Cloud, whichever your policy calls for.

Questions about Teams archiving with CtrlSync

Which Teams files are archived?
The files in a team's or a channel's document library, which includes the files people post in channel conversations. Within a team, your configuration decides which documents are added and how each one is filed.
What happens if a document is deleted in Microsoft Teams?
Once CtrlSync has synchronised it, the document stays in M‑Files, where a property records that it was deleted in Teams. When a whole team, channel or SharePoint site is deleted, its documents stay in M‑Files with their metadata and history.
Can archived documents be edited from M‑Files?
That is a choice in the configuration. You can allow edits from M‑Files, or prevent them so that Teams stays the only place a document changes. A document edited from M‑Files is checked out in Teams, so nobody else can change it at the same time. On saving, the change is uploaded to Teams and the file is checked in again.
How do people find an archived document?
By searching M‑Files. Every synchronised file is indexed, so people can search its full text or its metadata. The metadata comes from rules based on where the file sits and on details from Teams, such as the team, the channel and who created and last changed the file. The folder and the file name decide what kind of document it becomes.
How often are documents synchronised?
You choose the interval, anywhere from every minute to once a day. A change made in Teams becomes a new version in M‑Files at the next check.
Which sources does CtrlSync support besides Teams?
SharePoint sites and sub-sites, which it archives the same way. If you need another source, ask us.
Can we bring in the teams we already have?
Yes. In CtrlSync you connect any team by its link, new or existing. CtrlTeams, our add-on for running Microsoft Teams from M‑Files, finds the teams and channels that already exist and brings them into M‑Files as records.
What does CtrlSync need to run?
M‑Files licences, M‑Files 25.1 or later on any edition, in M‑Files Cloud or on-premise, and CtrlSync added as a Microsoft Azure application on your company's tenant.
Is there a trial?
Yes. CtrlSync comes with a 30-day trial, like every CtrlDocs product.

Start with the teams that matter most

Tell us how your teams are organised and what has to be kept. We answer the same working day.

  • See it first, then try it yourself — We demonstrate the products that fit, and help set up a demo environment so you can try them yourself.
  • Your sources and your schedule — Tell us which teams and SharePoint sites you need archived, and how often they should be checked.

You can also write or call us. We answer the same working day.

sales@ctrldocs.com +45 32 74 65 44

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