Document Center Site in SharePoint: how to structure a large amount of files in the Document Center?

Question

I am supposed to migrate a large amount of files from a current Shared Folder to a SharePoint team site. I am looking at the best way to do this and the Document Center as a subsite seems to me as a good solution. However, I need to apply a multilevel structure to this mass of files (about 4 levels approximately) and have first tried to create 4 main document libraries in the Document Center (by area of expertise). However, with this solution, the search feature will only search one library. Is there any way to "combine" and link these document libraries? Or another way to apply levels or create a structure in the Document center? I tried folders and document sets but not 100% satisfied.

Thanks!

Answer 1

The search issue can be cleared up with a custom search vertical targeted at your libraries.

However - the first question I would ask, is why are you moving it? Is it only for search? If so you can keep them where they are and create a new content source pointed at your file shares. This is preferred for large amounts of static content that don't need to leverage any of the document management features.

If you are still going to move them - you need to take inventory of how people need to access them and how they need to be identified. Regardless of site type - if you want to store Millions of documents in a library you need a strategy for tagging and breaking up the chunks of documents users can see at one time.

In either case you will also need to keep an eye on your SQL server and I/O as you might start bottle necking there. For search you need to be sure you are sized correctly for your indexes (I usually reserve about 20% of the size of my crawled sources).