Mapping a file folder to confluence
Asked by Scott Gilmour:

I have folders on a network drive that I use to store test results.

I would like to create a link on confluence to these folders but it doesn't seem to work when trying to add a link. How can I do this in confluence?


Answers:
author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

How is your network drive being exposed to your network? If it is just a file share, one that you "mount" on your local machine, then there's no way to create a usable link to it. You can't know how or where people might be mounting it.

If you are exposing it as a proper share, it will have a static UNC which you can use as a link in Confluence.

comments: author: Scott Gilmour
body: It is a virtual machine on our network that anybody can access to store or get the test results that are posted by QA


author: Scott Gilmour
body: How would I check for the UNC?


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: How would you reach this share with a browser?


author: Scott Gilmour
body: Not sure if we can I will ask I know the address takes me to VSPhere when entering it into a browser


author: Scott Gilmour
body: Need to get more info I can do it from my browser but not from another browser on another system I am working on it thanks for the help so far


author: Dave Mathijs
body: Hi [@Scott Gilmour](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5073957) welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Confluence has several free and paid third-party app integrations that link to Google Drive, OneDrive or SharePoint.

I won't link to a "regular" network drive / file share folder.

comments: author: Jim Gilliam
body: So, with Confluence Cloud, there isn't a way to map a local network drive?

I need to publish content from MadCap Flare to Confluence. I have the option in Flare of creating "publishing destinations." Here are my options:

FTP, SFTP, and File System (I use this to publish to SharePoint).

Will one of these work with Confluence Cloud?


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: No, because your "local" drive might not be the same as someone else's.

You can map to a shared resource with a common location of course (as long as it is accessible to the current user)


author: Jim Gilliam
body: How do you map to a shared resource?


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Generally, shared resources will have a URL that the directory or service is exposed to, so just give people the URL for it.


author: Annelotte
body: We publish from Flare to our locally mapped Google Shared drive (make to use the same drive letter (G in our case) for the drive.

In Confluence you can embed Google drive documents or folders.


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: I'm afraid that doesn't help, because most organisations do not (and even can not) mandate the use of very specific configurations like that.


author: Annelotte
body: Google Workspace is rather common, so I would not say 'most'. I'm guessing you can achieve the same thing with a locally mapped OneDrive or Box and embedding it on Confluence in an iFrame.


author: Jim Gilliam
body: Not with CORS.... I hate CORS. It thinks EVERYTHING is crossing a domain even when they all originate from the same domain. It's ridiculous. CORS is the worst invention and prohibits sharing.


author: Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
body: Yes, if you choose to force specific configurations on to your people, you are going to have problems when they choose to ignore you.

You can do things with a "locally mapped" Onedrive or Box, and iframes, but please, don't - iframes are deprecated, and "local mappings" are an insecure anti-pattern that will go away more quickly than you might think.

CORS is weak and outdated, but wherever the internet decides to go after CORS, the basic idea is still going to apply - "don't share stuff with people who should not have access to it"


Tags: cloud

confluence-cloud