Overview

You can enable link detection and remediation when defining the job's behaviors during job creation. It runs for both simulation and transfer jobs, scanning files to identify any links within them. The Jobs report will display the link information if available for the job. Once all the job runs are complete, you can execute link remediation to update the links, eliminating the need for manual editing. 

Link Remediation

Link detection only scans the latest version of each file and reports the links detected. It does not scan previous versions. When performing content analysis for link detection, DryvIQ requires a seekable stream. To achieve this, DryvIQ downloads the file into memory if it is small enough or into a temporary location on the processing node if it is too large. DryvIQ analyzes that stream, resets it, and uploads the file to the destination. After the transfer is complete, DryvIQ removes the temp file if one is needed for file analysis.

Supported File Types for Link Detection

Link detection currently only identifies links in the following file types:

• Microsoft Files: DOCX, PPTX, and XLSX extension (available in Microsoft Office 2007 and newer)
• Google Files: Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides.

Supported Link Types for Link Detection

• Hyperlinks: These are links to websites or documents. Hyperlinks can be http/https/ftp/ftps URLs or links to files.
  In Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, these links are created using the Link option on the Insert tab or by right-clicking on the selected text or cell and selecting Link from the shortcut menu.
• References to other Excel spreadsheets: In Microsoft Excel files, these are links to cells in other Microsoft Excel files. These links are created by using a formula that references a cell or range of cells in another Microsoft Excel file. The cells are formatted similarly to the following examples:

=[AnotherSpreadsheet.xlsx]SheetName!A1
='C:\Absolute\Path\To\[AnotherSpreadsheet.xlsx]SheetName'!B1

• Links documents/object: In Microsoft PowerPoint files, this content has been imported into the presentation. This content is imported using the Object option on the Insert tab or the Paste Special option to insert a Microsoft Word Document Object link.

Unsupported link Types for Link Detection

• Unformatted links: DryvIQ will not count unformatted links (URLs added as plain text in the document).
• IncludeText fields: Link detection does not support links added through IncludeText fields using the Insert Quick Parts option in Microsoft Word files.

Link Detection Impact on Job Performance

Simulation Jobs: When link detection for Simulation jobs, the jobs will take longer to execute because DryvIQ must download the document into memory to detect links. (DryvIQ does not normally load files into memory during simulation because they are not being migrated.) DryvIQ estimates a 5-10% impact.

Transfer Jobs: As noted above, DryvIQ scans for links while the document is in memory during file migration. Therefore, the impact on job time is minimal. The document's size has a negligible effect on link detection times unless the file size is very large (GBs in size). Link detection will cause a nominal amount of CPU utilization to detect links. Memory is not affected.

Viewing Link Detection Information

When enabled, link detection identifies links in files and makes the information available for review on individual Job reports and roll-up reports. Information is available on the Content Insights, Items, and Log pages.

Content Insights

The bottom of the Content Insights page for jobs with Link Remediation enabled will display a “Link remediation status overview” section. This section lists the number of files without links, the number of links identified requiring remediation, the number of links that have been remediated, the number of links where remediation failed and needs to be executed again, and the number of links for which remediation failed. You can view specific details about the individual links on the Items and Links pages. 

Use the Export this report link to export the information to a CSV file for further review. The export includes the following information.

Items

A link remediation status is assigned to every file included in a migration, even if link detection isn’t enabled for a job. You can configure the Items page to display the status by changing the third or fourth column header to Link remediation status.  

The column will display the link remediation status for every file. There are five statuses: Nothing to remediate: No links were detected in the file. Remediation needed: Links were detected in the file, and remediation must be executed to update the links. Complete: Remediation was executed, and processing was finished. Regular URLs and unsupported URLs will also be considered “Complete” as there is no action to take against them. Retry: Remediation was triggered but was not completed. Link remediation needs to be executed again to remediate the link. Failed: At least one link in the file failed to be remediated. Failed files will not be reprocessed during subsequent link remediation executions unless the status is changed to “Retry.” You can also filter the Items page based on a specific remediation status to narrow the results to display only files that need to be remediated, retried, etc.

Links

The Links page provides information about each link identified. There will be an entry for each link identified; therefore, you will see the source item listed multiple times if multiple links were identified within the file. You can edit the second, third, and fourth columns to display the information most relevant to your review. Review the table below for a summary of the available column options.

Filtering by Remediation Status The Filter by option on the Links page allows you to filter by remediation status to view only files with a specific status. None: The file has no remediation status because no links were detected. Remediated: Remediation was executed, and processing was finished. Ignored: DryvIQ could not match the link to the target file, or the link does not require remediation, such as a URL to an external website. You should verify that the link is correct and that the item it targets has been included in a transfer job so DryvIQ has tracking data for it. You can retry remediation for the link. Unsupported: The link is unsupported and cannot be remediated. See “Unsupported Link Types for Link Detection” above for a list of unsupported link types.   Retry: Remediation was triggered but was not completed. Link remediation needs to be executed again to remediate the link. Failed: At least one link in the file failed to be remediated. Failed files will not be reprocessed during subsequent link remediation executions unless the status is changed to “Retry.”

Link Remediation

You must manually trigger link remediation for the job(s) that contain links. When link remediation runs, it will update the linked URL to match the new location of the linked file. 

Supported Platforms for Link Remediation

DryvIQ only remediates links that point to files on Box, Dropbox, File System, Google Workspace, or Microsoft 365.  

Supported File Types for Link Remediation

DryvIQ only supports link remediation for the following file types:

• Microsoft Files: DOCX, PPTX, and XLSX (available in Microsoft Office 2007 and newer)
• Google Files: Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides.

Supported Link Types for Link Remediation

DryvIQ can remediate links when they follow specific formats supported by each platform. The sections below outline the approved link structures for Box, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and Microsoft SharePoint Online, helping you understand which links DryvIQ can remediate and when you may need to update them manually.

Box Supported Link Types

If the link in your document points to a Box file or folder, including links created using Box’s Office Online integration, DryvIQ can remediate it. Otherwise, DryvIQ can’t update it. 

Dropbox Supported Link Types

DryvIQ can remediate a link to a Dropbox file using a direct preview link. DryvIQ will also remediate a shared link only when Dropbox is the source connection. It treats the shared link as a native-item link and does not create a new shared link on the destination. 

Microsoft Supported Link Types

DryvIQ currently supports file-based links only for OneDrive and SharePoint. This means DryvIQ will remediate links pointing directly to documents (Word documents, Excel workbooks, PowerPoint presentations, etc.). However, DryvIQ does not remediate links to folders or entire SharePoint sites. If your documents contain folder paths or site URLs, you’ll need to update those links manually after the migration to ensure they point to the correct location.

Executing Link Remediation

1. Choose the job(s) by selecting the box before the job name.
2. Click "More options" and select "Execute link remediation" from the displayed menu. 
   
   
3. DryvIQ adds the job to the job queue.  
4. Once the job finishes running, the link remediation status will be Complete if remediation is successful for all identified links. 
   If the link remediation status is Retry, link remediation did not run. You need to execute it again.
   If the link remediation status is Failed, at least one link cannot be remedied. You must edit the link manually.
5. The link detection information on the Content Insights, Items, and Links pages is updated to reflect the current link information. 

Link Remediation Impact on Jobs

Link remediation does not affect migration jobs' transfer times or speed because it is a separate process executed after migration when link detection is completed. However, it entails making additional calls to the destination and source platforms, so platforms with caps or overage charges may be impacted. Link remediation does add time to the overall migration project because it adds a separate process that requires execution. The link remediation process is roughly equivalent to the extra time it would take to do another delta run on a document count basis. For example, remediating links in 1,000 files in a job takes approximately the same amount of time as running a delta run with modifications to 1,000 files. This should be factored in when planning a project using link detection and remediation.