ReplaceMagic SharePoint Integration — Fix Broken Links Natively

ReplaceMagic offers two ways to work with SharePoint: native API integration (recommended) and mapped drive access. Understanding the difference between these two methods helps you choose the right approach for your environment and ensures that your document processing project completes successfully without data loss or metadata corruption.

Native Integration vs. Mapped Drive

When SharePoint is mapped as a network drive using WebDAV, Windows presents the SharePoint library as a file system folder. This approach is simple to configure, but it comes with significant limitations: no metadata is accessible, check-in/check-out is not managed, and versioning information is invisible to the processing tool. It also tends to be slower and less reliable, especially over VPN or WAN connections.

Native API integration, by contrast, communicates directly with SharePoint through its REST API and CSOM. This gives ReplaceMagic full access to document properties, library settings, and platform-level features that WebDAV simply cannot expose. Native integration is faster, more reliable, and is the only mode that supports the full range of ReplaceMagic’s SharePoint capabilities.

What Native Integration Enables

Features that are only available through native API integration — not through a mapped drive — include:

• Preservation of last-modified date and modified-by author after changes
• Automatic check-out before processing and check-in after completion
• Version history maintenance (changes appear as new versions, not overwrites)
• Content approval status preservation
• Processing of Wiki pages and Canvas (modern) pages
• Correct handling of SharePoint throttling (HTTP 429)
• Access to the SharePoint Quick Launch and Top Navigation bars for URL replacement

Supported Platforms

The native integration layer in ReplaceMagic supports the following Microsoft platforms, all of which use the SharePoint API as their document storage backend:

• SharePoint Online — Microsoft 365 cloud-hosted SharePoint
• SharePoint On-Premises — versions 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Subscription Edition
• Microsoft Teams — Teams channel files are stored in SharePoint document libraries; ReplaceMagic processes them through the same SharePoint API
• OneDrive for Business — OneDrive for Business is powered by SharePoint; files stored there are accessible via the same native integration

Authentication Modes Overview

ReplaceMagic supports six authentication modes to cover every SharePoint deployment scenario:

• Online (username/password) — Standard Microsoft 365 credentials for SharePoint Online
• Windows Authentication — Domain credentials for SharePoint on-premises
• Anonymous — For publicly accessible sites where no credentials are required
• MFA with App Password — For Microsoft 365 accounts protected by multi-factor authentication
• App-Only Authentication — Azure AD application credentials for automated and unattended workflows
• Legacy Auth Mode — For on-premises environments where modern authentication protocols are disabled

Content Types Processed via Native Integration

Through the native SharePoint API, ReplaceMagic can process:

• Standard document libraries (all Office file types, PDF, and more)
• SharePoint list items (when the Process List Items option is enabled)
• Enterprise Wiki pages and Canvas pages (modern pages)
• ASPX pages in SharePoint (when All SharePoint Libraries mode is enabled)
• Quick Launch and Top Navigation bar URLs

Performance and Configuration

Native integration supports configurable parallel processing. For SharePoint Online, 3–5 threads are recommended to stay within Microsoft’s throttling limits. For on-premises environments, higher thread counts are possible. Built-in throttling detection pauses and retries automatically when a 429 response is received, ensuring processing continues without manual intervention.

Advantages Over Competing Tools

ReplaceMagic’s native SharePoint integration does not require Microsoft Office to be installed on the processing machine. It does not use Office Automation (COM interop), which means it can run on a headless server or as a scheduled task without any GUI. A command-line mode is available for integration into migration pipelines and scripted workflows, making ReplaceMagic suitable for enterprise-scale deployments where manual operation is not practical.