Using Explorer View works especially well in Windows 10 where you have joined your company's Azure Active Directory.
Yes there are two paths you can go by …
1. Open the Library in Explorer view each time you want to view it.
2. Map a drive from Windows explorer for continued access to the Library.
Open in Windows Explorer
Before you map a network drive, follow these steps to Open in Windows Explorer
a. In Internet Explorer - Sign in to the SharePoint Online site by using your Office 365 creds. Make sure that you select the Keep me signed in check box. That little step is important.b. Open a document library in Explorer View.
c. From your Team Site, go into your Document Library.
d. Under the Library Tools section in the Ribbon, click the Library tab.
e. In the Actions group, click Open with Explorer and Explorer should now Launch.
Mapping a network drive
Windows 7
To map a network drive to a SharePoint Online site, follow these steps:a. Sign in to the SharePoint Online site by using your Office 365 credentials. Make sure that you click to select the Keep me signed in check box.
b. Open a document library in Explorer View as above – we need to do this to obtain the URL.
c. From your Team Site, select your Document Library.
d. Under the Library Tools section in the Ribbon, click the Library tab.
e. In the Actions group, click Open with Explorer.
f. Explorer should now Launch with your chosen Library
g. Right-click and Copy the URL from the Explorer window
h. From the tools menu click Map Network Drive.
i. Click the Connect to a Web site that you can store your documents and pictures link, and then click Next two times.
j. Paste the site URL, click Next, and then follow the instructions in the wizard.
For example: https://mycompany.sharepoint.com/Documents
This location will now be added as a Network Location in Windows Explorer
Note: You may need to enable the tools menu on Windows 7
1. Open a Windows Explorer window.
2. Click on Organize and Layout. (See screenshot below)
3. To Enable the Menu Bar
4. Click on Menu Bar to check it.
Windows 8/8.1
To map a network drive to a SharePoint Online site, follow these steps:a. User Internet Explorer and Sign in to the SharePoint Online site by using your Office 365 credentials. Make sure that you click to select the Keep me signed in check box.
b. Open a document library in Explorer View as above – we need to do this for the URL.
c. From your Team Site, select your Document Library.
d. Under the Library Tools section in the Ribbon, click the Library tab.
e. In the Actions group, click Open with Explorer.
Explorer should now Launch with your chosen Library
f. Right-click and Copy the URL from the Explorer window
g. From the tools menu click Map Network Drive.
h. Click the Connect to a Web site that you can store your documents and pictures link, and then click Next two times.
i. Paste the site URL, click Next, and then follow the instructions in the wizard. For example, https://mycompany.sharepoint.com/Documents
This location will now be added as a Network Location in Windows Explorer
Note: You may need to enable the tools menu on Windows 8
1. Open a Windows Explorer window.
2. Click on Organize and Layout. (See screenshot below)
3. To Enable the Menu Bar
4. Click on Menu Bar to check it.
Windows 10
To map a network drive to a SharePoint Online site, follow these steps:a. User Internet Explorer and Sign in to the SharePoint Online site by using your Office 365 credentials. Make sure that you click to select the Keep me signed in check box.
b. Open a document library in Explorer View as above – we need to do this to obtain the URL.
c. From your Team Site, select your Document Library.
d. Under the Library Tools section in the Ribbon, click the Library tab.
e. In the Actions group, click Open with Explorer.
Explorer should now Launch with your chosen Library
f. Right-click and Copy the URL from the Explorer window
g. From the tools menu click Map Network Drive.
h. Click the Connect to a Web site that you can store your documents and pictures link, and then click Next two times.
i. Paste the site URL, click Next, and then follow the instructions in the wizard.
For example, https://mycompany.sharepoint.com/Documents
This location will now be added as a Network Location in Windows Explorer
Note: You may need to enable the tools menu on Windows 8
1. Open a Windows Explorer window.
2. Click on Organize and Layout. (See screenshot below)
3. To Enable the Menu Bar
4. Click on Menu Bar to check it.
Troubleshooting & Known Issues
Note: There are some known issues with Mapping network drives.Known Issues include:
1. Internet Explorer 10 (32 bit) on Windows 7 - does not work
2. Internet Explorer (64 bit) - does not work
3. Mapped drives will timeout after 8 hours
Troubleshooting Suggestions from Microsoft
How to troubleshoot mapped network drive issues
When using Open with Explorer, make sure that you are using IE 7 through 9 in the 32-bit version.
Note: IE 10 on Windows 7 is not fully compatible with some of the SharePoint Online features, but IE 10 is compatible on Windows 8.
Try running IE 10 in compatibility mode.
- Open Internet Explorer.
- Press the Alt key to display the Menu bar (or right-click the Address bar and then select Menu bar).
- Tap or click Tools, and then tap or click Compatibility View settings.
Make sure that you have lowered UAC to the lowest setting. For more information on UAC and how to change its settings, please refer to the below URL:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/What-are-User-Account-Control-settings
Ensure that you have added the following URLs to your Trusted Sites zone in IE:
In your IE browser, select the "Tools" option (alt + x) and select "Internet Options" from the drop-down menu.
1. Select the "Security" tab.
2. Click on "Trusted Sites"
3. Click on the "Sites" button
4. Add the following sites:
https://*.sharepoint.com
https://*.microsoftonline.com
5. Click close and OK
In the Trusted Sites zone in IE, make sure that Enabled Protected Mode is unchecked.
Make sure that IE is passing through your credentials correctly:
In IE, select the "Tools" option (alt + x) and select "Internet Options" from the drop-down menu.
1. Select the "Security" tab.
2. Select "Custom level."
3. From here, scroll all the way down to the bottom to the "User Authentication" section.
4. Under the "Logon" section, choose the "Automatic logon with current username and password" option.
5. Select "ok."
When you are signing in to SharePoint, make sure that you are checking the option to use Keep Me Signed In.
1. Navigate to https://portal.onmicrosoft.com
2. When signing into the portal, check the option for "Keep me signed in."
3. Log in.
4. This will apply the settings needed.
Also, there may be third-party add-ins in IE which are interfering with the Open with Explorer feature.
It might be a good idea to reset IE back to its default settings by performing the following:
1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click Tools, in Internet Explorer 9 or above it is a gear icon located in the upper-right hand corner of the screen, and then click Internet Options.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Under Reset Internet Explorer Settings, click Reset.
5. Select the Delete personal settings check box to remove browsing history, search providers, Accelerators, home pages, Tracking Protection, and ActiveX Filtering data.
Note: You will need to set-up your homepage again. However, your favorites will not be deleted
6. Exit Internet Explorer and then restart the program again as the changes will take effect once the browser is restarted.
