Scanning analyzes your source files to identify potential issues that could cause migration failures. Running a scan before migration is required - this ensures you can address problems before they affect your migration.
SharePoint has specific requirements for file names, paths, and file types. Issues that seem minor on a local file system can cause:
A pre-migration scan identifies these issues so you can fix them beforehand.
SharePoint has a 400 character limit for the full path including the site URL. Files exceeding this limit will fail to upload.
Example:
https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/Marketing/Shared Documents/Projects/2024/Q4/Campaign Materials/Final Versions/Approved/...
SharePoint doesn't allow these characters in file or folder names:
| Character | Name |
|---|---|
" | Double quote |
* | Asterisk |
: | Colon |
< | Less than |
> | Greater than |
? | Question mark |
/ | Forward slash |
\ | Backslash |
| | Pipe |
Files with these characters need to be renamed before migration.
Windows and SharePoint reserve certain file names:
CON, PRN, AUX, NULCOM1 through COM9LPT1 through LPT9_vti_ prefix (SharePoint internal).lock, desktop.ini, thumbs.dbSharePoint blocks certain file types for security:
.exe, .dll, .bat, .cmd.ps1, .vbs, .js (as attachments).sys, .infSharePoint Online supports files up to 250 GB. Files exceeding this limit cannot be uploaded.
After a scan completes, you'll see:
The health bar shows your migration readiness at a glance:
The issue breakdown shows how many files are affected by each issue type, with a bar chart for visual comparison.
Click View Issues to see a detailed list of every file with issues. You can:
For critical issues (path length, invalid characters):
Some issues are handled automatically:
You can run multiple scans on the same project. Each scan:
This is useful after fixing issues or changing the destination.