SharePoint sources · Workforce Intelligence docs

The SharePoint sources card on a Knowledge Base lists the SharePoint sites it collects documents from. The site's files and its site pages become documents in the Knowledge Base, and Coworkers search and cite them like any other document. Everyone who can see the Knowledge Base can see its SharePoint sources. Owners and editors can add, sync, change and remove them.

The card appears on a Knowledge Base once an administrator has added SharePoint with Add a connection on the Connectors page in Settings. Before that, the Knowledge Base does not show the card.

Add a SharePoint site#

Open the Knowledge Base and find the SharePoint sources card.
Select Add a SharePoint site. A dialog opens with the cursor in Site address.
If your organization has more than one SharePoint connection, choose one under SharePoint connection.
Enter the address of the site under Site address, for example https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/policies. It must start with https://.
If you are the Knowledge Base's owner and your administrator has turned on sign-in with a person's Microsoft account for that connection, choose Sync as: The organization's application (the default) or The Knowledge Base owner's Microsoft account. See Sync as the owner's Microsoft account.
Optionally enter a Library. Leave it blank to sync every document library on the site, except the ones SharePoint keeps for itself (such as Site Assets and Style Library). Enter a library's name to sync only that library. The site's pages are included either way.
Choose how often it should update under Update: On demand, Daily, Weekly or Monthly.
Select Add site. Cancel or Esc closes the dialog without adding anything.

The site is checked as you add it. If the address cannot be found, or SharePoint refuses access to it, the dialog shows a message that says why and nothing is added. Adding the same site and library twice to one Knowledge Base is refused.

Once added, the site appears in the table and its first sync starts straight away.

The sites table#

Column	What it shows
Site	The site address, the library (or All libraries), the connection it uses, and how it signs in: Organization application or Owner's Microsoft account
Status	Active, Syncing now…, Sync failed, Partially synced or Needs sign-in, with the reason when there is one
Last synced	When it last synced, Syncing now… while it runs, or Never synced
Update	How often it updates. Owners and editors change it from the list.

While a site is syncing, the table refreshes by itself. On a phone, each site is a block of its own: the address first, then each of the other columns under its name, then the actions. On a narrower screen the table scrolls sideways inside its card.

What each status means#

Active: the last sync finished and everything it found was added.
Syncing now…: a sync is running.
Sync failed: the sync could not run. The message under the status says why, in plain words, for example that SharePoint refused access to the site, that the site or library could not be found (the address may be wrong, or the account may not have access), or that sign-in to SharePoint failed. Documents already collected stay available. Ask an administrator to check the connection if access is refused.
Partially synced: the sync ran, but something was left out. The message names the file and the reason, or says how many files were not added and gives one example. It also appears when a sync stopped before every item was listed, and when one or more of the site's document libraries could not be read: the message says how many, those libraries keep their documents as they were, and the other libraries sync as usual. When the site's pages could not be listed, the message reads "The site's pages could not be listed.": the pages already collected stay, none are removed, and the site's files still sync.
Needs sign-in: the site syncs as the owner's Microsoft account, and that account has to sign in to SharePoint again. See Sync as the owner's Microsoft account.

Sync as the owner's Microsoft account#

Some organizations let a site sync as a person's own Microsoft account instead of the organization's application. The site is then read with what that account can read in SharePoint. Sync as appears on the add form only for the Knowledge Base's owner, and only when your administrator has turned this on for the connection. Editors do not see it, and only the owner can add a site as their own account; an editor who wants one asks the owner to add it. Sites already set to sync as the owner's account stay visible to everyone who can see the Knowledge Base.

Choosing The Knowledge Base owner's Microsoft account uses the owner at the moment you add the site. Changing the Knowledge Base's owner later does not change whose account the site syncs as.
That person has to connect their Microsoft account first. They do it under Connected accounts in Settings, where the entry is named after the SharePoint connection. If the owner has not connected, the form says so and nothing is added. The form also shows Open Connected accounts, which takes you to that section.
When the account has to sign in again, for example after it was disconnected or its access expired, the site shows Needs sign-in with the message "The account used to sync this site needs to sign in to SharePoint again." The person whose account it is sees a Connect account link to Connected accounts; select it, select Connect on the entry, and sign in. For everyone else the site reads "The owner needs to reconnect their account." Then select Sync now. Nothing is removed from the Knowledge Base while a site waits for the sign-in.

Which files are read#

A site's files are read the same way as uploaded files: Word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument, CSV, text, Markdown and image files. See Adding and editing documents for the full list and the limits. Older Office files (.doc, .xls, .ppt) are not read; the message asks you to re-save them in the current format, and the site shows Partially synced. Files larger than the size your administrator allows are left out with a message that says so.

Each file becomes a document named after the file, and each site page becomes a document named after the page's title (or its file name when it has no title). Open a document, or find it in a search, and select Open source to see the original in SharePoint. A file that has not changed since the last sync is not read again, and a file that changed replaces the earlier text while that earlier text stays in use until the new one is ready. Renaming or moving a file in SharePoint keeps its document and updates its name and link without reading the file again. Once a week every library is listed in full, which also refreshes the links of files whose folder was renamed or moved.

The first sync of a large site#

A site with many files takes a while to read the first time. Small files are read first and large presentations last, so most of the site becomes searchable quickly while the biggest files finish in the background. Files you upload to a Knowledge Base are read ahead of a site that is still syncing.

When a file cannot be read, Partially synced gives one example with the reason, for example "3 files could not be read. For example, Q3 deck.pptx (This file took longer than 15 minutes to read. Try splitting it or asking an administrator to raise the reading time limit.)". The reason is the same one shown on the document under Failed; see Why a file could not be read for what each means and what to do. A file the product cannot read, such as an older Office file, stays failed, with the same message, until it is changed in SharePoint; the next sync then reads it again. A file that failed because SharePoint or the reading service was briefly unavailable is tried again on the next sync. You can also select Try again on the document after you fix the cause.

Sync and remove#

Select Sync now to bring in the site's latest changes straight away. It shows Starting… for a moment and Syncing… while it runs, and the button is available again as soon as the sync has finished. A site that is already syncing cannot be started again: the row reads "This source is already syncing".
Sites with a Daily, Weekly or Monthly update sync again on their own once a day, a week or a month has passed since their last sync. A site set to On demand syncs only when you select Sync now.
When a file or page is deleted in SharePoint, its document is removed from the Knowledge Base after a sync that listed the whole library. A sync that stops part-way removes nothing from the library it did not finish. When a document library is deleted from the site, its documents are removed after a sync that listed the site's libraries. New libraries are picked up on the next sync.
Select Delete and then Remove site to stop future syncs. The dialog notes that content already indexed stays until you delete those documents.

Who can read the documents#

SharePoint's own permissions are not copied, whether the site syncs as the organization's application or as the owner's Microsoft account. Whoever can read the Knowledge Base can read the documents collected from the site, under the Knowledge Base's own access rules (see Team access). Add only sites whose documents everyone with access to this Knowledge Base may read.

When there are no sites the card says "Add a SharePoint site to sync its documents into this Knowledge Base." to people who can manage the Knowledge Base, and "No SharePoint sites are synced into this Knowledge Base." to everyone else.