Forum Discussion
Accessing SharePoint Files with 3rd Party Software
Hello all, I am building a Startup to provide software solution to construction industry, and would like your input for connecting 3rd party software to Sharepoint for accessing files on SharePoint.
As part of one of the services, the software needs to access the client's SharePoint files. How can one connect a 3rd party software to SharePoint so that the users have access to files on SharePoint? What are some important things to consider? I am at the early stage of software development, and would like to start with the right foot. Your input is much appreciated.
2 Replies
- Take a look at how to use Microsoft 365 APIs to get access to SPO content. Particularlly I recommend you to review Microsoft Graph APIs
- Why don't you use Power Query to do that? I assume your client is still going to use Excel for analytics and Power Query will consolidate files from SharePoint folders as part of the base functionality. I see no reason to re-invent the wheel there. If you are building ANY kind of software for a Construction Startup, you're still going to need to allow Export to Excel for analysis and probably Import as well. I work for a very large Energy company and we manage Construction in the billions, we haven't gotten away from Excel and we don't plan to. We DID in the past try other cloud-based solutions from 3rd parties who all said "Oh you have to get out of Excel!!" and they all utterly failed in the long run.
