You want to tidy up. Rename a folder, move a few files somewhere sensible, and suddenly three people report that a link they use every day no longer works. It is worth knowing which links survive a move and which do not, because the answer is not obvious and it is not the same for everyone.

What usually survives

A link created with the Share button in SharePoint, Teams or OneDrive does not point at a location. It points at the file itself, using an identifier that stays with the file when it is renamed or moved to another folder in the same site. So if you rename Quote template.docx or drag it into a different folder in the same library, the link you emailed last month generally keeps working.

The same is true when you rename a folder. Files inside it keep their shared links.

What usually breaks

• Anything that points at a path rather than the file. A link copied out of the browser address bar, a full path pasted into a Word document or an email, or a network path starting with two backslashes. These describe where the file was, so they break the moment it is not there.
• Mapped drives and shortcuts. An old S: drive, a desktop shortcut or a Add shortcut to OneDrive pointing at a folder that has moved will fail or point at the wrong place.
• Browser bookmarks. These usually point at the folder, not the file, so they break when the folder moves or is renamed.
• Moving between sites or Teams. Moving a file from one Team or SharePoint site to a different one is a much bigger change than moving it within a site. Assume links, version history and permissions will not all come along cleanly.
• Excel workbooks that pull from other workbooks. Formulas that reference another file record where the file was. Move either file and the formula needs repointing.
• Teams tabs pinned to a file or folder, and links inside other systems such as your job management or accounting software.

Try this first

1. Rename rather than duplicate. Renaming keeps one file with one history and one set of working links. Making a new copy with a better name and leaving the old one behind creates two versions of the truth, and someone will edit the wrong one within a fortnight.
2. Move, do not copy and delete. Use Move to from the three-dot menu in SharePoint or Teams. This keeps the file’s identity, so shared links follow it. Copying and then deleting the original breaks every link and starts the version history again.
3. Do it in one go. A folder moved once is one round of confusion. The same folder nudged three times over three weeks is three.
4. Tell the people who use it. A one-line message saying what moved and where beats a week of quiet workarounds.
5. Check the obvious dependents afterwards. Open the Teams tab, click the desktop shortcut, open the spreadsheet that links to the other spreadsheet. Two minutes of checking saves a support ticket.

Before restructuring a whole site

Ask us first. Reorganising one folder is a job for whoever owns it. Rearranging a whole site or library is different, because the things that break are usually invisible from the file list - permissions inherited from the old structure, links inside other systems, retention settings, sync clients on twenty laptops all trying to catch up at once.

Before a big move we take a checkpoint of the library so the whole thing can be put back if it does not land well, and we schedule it for a time when people are not mid-invoice-run. Scheduled work like this is planned in advance and quoted in writing, so there are no surprises either way.

Still stuck?

Log a ticket at portal.yougrowit.com.au or email support@yougrowit.com.au. If it is stopping you working right now, call 03 9028 4358.

Support hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm Melbourne time, excluding Victorian public holidays.