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Four ways to reach SharePoint from Windows.
The OneDrive sync app, a WebDAV drive, the old file server, or KONNEKT. Each one fits some people better than others, and KONNEKT can run next to the sync app or stand alone. Here is how they differ.
KONNEKT and the OneDrive sync app.
Both come from the same place, Microsoft 365, and both open Office files for co-authoring. They differ in where the files physically live and in who decides what shows up.
| Capability | KONNEKT | OneDrive sync app |
|---|---|---|
| Files on the device | Streamed on demand, a cache with a ceiling you set | Yes, at least partly |
| Working offline | Cache and offline files in the personal OneDrive | Yes, for everything synced |
| Which libraries show up | Every site the user is a member of, automatically | Libraries users add one by one, or that an admin lists |
| Drive letters | Yes, by policy per library | No |
| UNC paths | \\OneDrive-contoso\Finance | No, a folder in the user profile |
| Multi-user hosts and VDI | One engine per session, bounded cache | Limited |
| Libraries with 100,000+ files | Lists the folder you open, fetches the file you use | Microsoft recommends no more than 300,000 items across your cloud storage |
| Office co-authoring | Yes | Yes |
| Managed by Group Policy and Intune | Yes | Yes |
| Mac, iPhone and iPad | Finder and Files app, private preview | Yes |
Filled dot: fully covered. Half: covered with limits. Ring: not available.
Who gets what.
KONNEKT and the sync app run side by side on the same device. A split that fits how people work:
Laptops that travel
BothThe sync app for offline work, KONNEKT for the shared drives with drive letters.
Citrix, RDS, AVD and Windows 365
KONNEKTNo replicas in profiles, a cache you size once per host, drives on the first logon.
Shared PCs and shift workers
KONNEKTPeople sign in, see their team's drives, and nothing syncs to the machine; the cache clears when KONNEKT restarts.
Apps that need a path
KONNEKTERP exports, macros, scanners and batch jobs keep their drive letters and UNC paths.
A handful of personal files
Sync appFor someone who only works in their own OneDrive and never needs a drive letter.
Where a WebDAV drive falls short.
Windows can map a SharePoint library through its built-in WebDAV client. It works for a quick look.
- Sign-in through browser cookies. The WebClient service reuses a persistent browser session, and mapped drives stop working when that cookie expires.
- File size limit. The WebClient service refuses files above 50,000,000 bytes by default, a registry setting per machine.
- One URL per drive. Nothing discovers the sites people are members of.
- KONNEKT doesn't use WebDAV at all. It talks to Microsoft Graph and the SharePoint REST API with delegated OAuth tokens.
Leaving the file server behind.
People keep Explorer, their drive letters and their paths when the server goes.
What you retire
- File servers, their patching and their hardware
- Share backups and restore requests
- VPN just to reach a drive
- Logon scripts that map shares by department
What people keep
- Windows Explorer as the place for files
- Drive letters, set centrally by policy
- Paths that scripts and applications understand
- Right-click actions, now with SharePoint versions and sharing links
Switching from another drive-mapping tool.
If your current SharePoint drive tool is reaching end of life, KONNEKT can take over its drive letters: managed mappings keep the letters people use today, and the evaluation runs on your real tenant.
Evaluate
Install KONNEKT on a few machines and point it at your real tenant.
Configure
Recreate your drive mappings as managed mappings in Group Policy or Intune, with the same letters as today. The policy settings in the docs show the values to set.
Pilot
Give a small group KONNEKT with the mappings they know. They see the same drive letters and the same files.
Roll out
Retire the old tool group by group.
Questions from the switch
01Does this need new infrastructure or a vendor portal?
No. KONNEKT is a client and uses your existing Group Policy or Intune. There is no portal to run and no subscription tier to manage.
02How does it affect our compliance paperwork?
File content never passes through glueckkanja; what does reach us is the license check and, with consent, crash reports. KONNEKT is ISO 27001 certified. How that maps onto your GDPR and DORA paperwork is for your compliance team to decide.
03What happens when Microsoft 365 changes something?
We ship the update. KONNEKT has followed SharePoint through domain renames, Multi-Geo, new throttling rules and a new OAuth platform since 2016, and the release notes show every step.
Compare it on your own tenant.
The evaluation runs on real data, with every feature.