Can Hosted Files be configured to access my Microsoft OneDrive?

Phillip Bicknell
Phillip Bicknell
Ninth Anniversary Kudos 1 Participant Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussions
We still have network drives on our servers that the Hosted Files can access, but increasingly I'm using my OneDrive for data files that I then want to use within the Database View. So it's becoming a real pain having to copy files to a temporary location before moving them.

Comments

  • Rachel Cavalier
    Rachel Cavalier Community All-Star
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 5 PowerUp Challenge - Chat for Blackbaud AI Task 3 bbcon 2025 Attendee Badge
    We use Microsoft Teams and OneDrive too. I'm not sure if this will help you, but I synchronised mine with my work PC and and then I set my hosted files to default to that location on my computer.
  • Phillip Bicknell
    Phillip Bicknell
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 1 Participant Facilitator 1

    Rachel Cavalier:

    We use Microsoft Teams and OneDrive too. I'm not sure if this will help you, but I synchronised mine with my work PC and and then I set my hosted files to default to that location on my computer.

    Hi, Rachel,


    Glad to hear that you have a solution, but I'm afraid I don't understand if it solves what I need, nor how you did what you did.


    Could I prevail upon you to amplify, please?


    For clarity, I was hoping to link my One Drive to the custom File Explorer window that opens from NXT > Hosted Files.


    I tried a Chat with BB, but got a uh and not supported. Although they did mention setting a default in Database View, which I'll also have a look at. After all, for the time being, that's where I need to use imported files.

  • Rachel Cavalier
    Rachel Cavalier Community All-Star
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    Since Blackbaud don't support linking OneDrive to the hosted File Explorer, the workaround we ended up with kind of skips that - which is why I wasn't sure if it'd work for what you need.


    I've synced OneDrive with my PC, so the files are mirrored locally (and I have the OneDrive app/program running to keep them synced) and then within database view, I set the local synced folder as the default location for Word docs, Export/Import Data Files and Excel Spreadsheets. This way whenever I export anything, it defaults to that folder location and when I'm importing, that's the location it chooses for me to get my import files from. You can set these default locations from Tools>User Options and then on the File Locations tab.
  • Phillip Bicknell
    Phillip Bicknell
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 1 Participant Facilitator 1
    Rachel,

    I put both Blackbaud's stance and your description to our IT support team. They've come down on the side of caution:

    = = = = 
    Sorry for the delay in the response, we have gone through the responses and we would advise against linking RE to OneDrive as this is going against the Vendor and they would not support this.

    We have also experienced issues in the past when syncing database files within Cloud Storage such as OneDrive or Dropbox where the database becomes corrupt when it sync across from PC to Cloud, or where the PC does not fully unlock the process. If this happens the Vendor may refuse to support you with recovery.

    = = = = 


    So I'm going to reluctantly live with the status quo for now.


    But thank you so much for sharing your solution. Please do revert should the situation change, as will I.
  • Phillip Bicknell
    Phillip Bicknell
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 1 Participant Facilitator 1
    FOLLOW-UP SOLUTION?


    Hi folks, Whilst WFH, I noticed that the Hosted Files also showed my Local Disk > Users, which included my OneDrive. Over the last three weeks, I have successfully and without incident transferred files directly to and from Hosted Files and OneDrive. So, it is possible and Blackbaud's advice needs updating.

    861cd203b8d4745b443220ab897c6588-huge-on

    For info: PID is the folder where I store all Personal Identifiable Data working files, a term I coined from GDPR. Preceding filenames with the date in Big Endian format means I can easily keep on top of deleting older files.

     
  • Rachel Cavalier
    Rachel Cavalier Community All-Star
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    Is that folder your local copy and one that syncs with the cloud-hosted OneDrive?
  • Phillip Bicknell
    Phillip Bicknell
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 1 Participant Facilitator 1

    Rachel Cavalier:

    Is that folder your local copy and one that syncs with the cloud-hosted OneDrive?

    Hi Rachel,

    I believe it is, yes. So all I've done is catch-up with where you got to, I suspect :-) 

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