Connecting SharePoint Online

SharePoint Online by Microsoft is a cloud-based collaboration, knowledge management and storage platform for organizations of all sizes. Often used as a centralized content management system (CMS), SharePoint Online stores a wealth of information across departments and teams. The SharePoint Online connector provided with Workplace Search automatically captures, syncs and indexes the following items:

You must configure the SharePoint Online connector before connecting the SharePoint Online service to Workplace Search. For this you must create an OAuth App in the SharePoint Online platform.

To get started, first log in to SharePoint Online and access your administrative dashboard.

Step 1. Sign in to https://portal.azure.com/ and click on Azure Active Directory:

Figure 85. Connecting SharePoint

Step 2. Locate App Registrations:

Figure 86. Connecting SharePoint

Step 3. Click New Registration:

Figure 87. Connecting SharePoint

Step 4. Give your app a name - like "Workplace Search" - and make it multitenant.

Leave the Redirect URIs blank for now. We’ll add this later in the process.

Step 5. Register the application:

Figure 88. Connecting SharePoint

Step 6. Retrieve and keep the Client ID handy - we’ll need it within Workplace Search.

Step 7. Next, click the Add a Redirect URI link in the header.

Use the Workplace Search OAuth redirect URL for your deployment.

Figure 89. Connecting SharePoint

Step 7. Save the configuration.

Figure 90. Connecting SharePoint

Step 8. Locate the Client Secret by navigating to Certificates & Secrets:

Figure 91. Connecting SharePoint

Step 9. Pick a name for your client secret (for example, Workplace Search). Select 24 months as the expiration date:

Figure 92. Connecting SharePoint

Step 10. Save the Client Secret value before leaving this screen.

Figure 93. Connecting SharePoint

Step 11. We must now set up the permissions the Application will request from the Azure Portal service account. Navigate to API Permissions and click Add Permission. Add delegated permissions until the list resembles the following:

User.ReadBasic.All
Group.Read.All
Directory.AccessAsUser.All
Files.Read
Files.Read.All
Sites.Read.All
offline_access

Figure 94. Connecting SharePoint

Step 12. Finally, Grant admin consent.

Use the Grant Admin Consent link from the permissions screen.

Step 13. From the Workplace Search administrative dashboard’s Sources area, locate SharePoint Online, click Configure and provide both the Client ID and Client Secret.

Voilà! The SharePoint Online connector is now configured, and ready to be used to synchronize content. In order to capture data, you must now connect a SharePoint Online instance with the adequate authentication credentials.

Once the SharePoint Online connector has been configured, you may connect a SharePoint Online instance to your organization.

Step 1. Head to your organization’s Workplace Search administrative dashboard, and locate the Sources tab.

Step 2. Click Add a new source.

Step 3. Select SharePoint Online in the Configured Sources list, and follow the SharePoint Online authentication flow as presented.

Step 4. Upon the successful authentication flow, you will be redirected to Workplace Search.

SharePoint Online content will now be captured and will be ready for search gradually as it is synced. Once successfully configured and connected, the SharePoint Online synchronization automatically occurs every 2 hours.