NetDocuments recently acquired OpenText’s eDOCS platform, a clear sign that eDOCS is moving toward the end of its life as a standalone system. If your organization still relies on eDOCS for document management, this is the moment to decide what comes next.
For many organizations, that next step is SharePoint Online. Here’s how to know if it’s the right move for you, and what to plan for if it is.
Does NetDocuments or SharePoint Make More Sense for You?
If eDOCS mainly supports your legal or HR team, and most of your content lives in client and matter records, NetDocuments’ own cloud platform may be the simpler path. It’s built around the same legal centric metadata and workflows you already use.
But eDOCS often grows well beyond its original scope. If it now supports document management across many departments, not just legal, SharePoint Online is worth serious consideration. Most organizations already have Microsoft 365 licensing in place, which makes the return on a SharePoint migration hard to beat.
Why Organizations Are Moving to SharePoint
- No more active development: eDOCS is stable, but it isn’t keeping pace with cloud integration, remote work, and modern security needs.
- Lower cost and less maintenance: SharePoint Online is part of Microsoft 365, so you get a cloud native platform without the licensing and IT overhead of an on-premises system.
- Better collaboration: SharePoint connects directly to Teams and OneDrive, so people can co-author documents and automate workflows without leaving the tools they already use.
- Room to grow: SharePoint gives you a foundation for AI, advanced search, and stronger compliance as your needs evolve.
These aren’t small upgrades. For most organizations, they add up to a real business case for migrating now.
What Your Migration Team Needs to Plan For
eDOCS and SharePoint are built differently, so a successful migration takes real planning. Here’s what to work through.
Metadata and Folder Mapping
eDOCS treats folders as virtual containers, so most organizations navigate by metadata rather than a folder tree. SharePoint supports both. Map your document attributes, like title, author, document type, and custom fields, to the SharePoint libraries and metadata that will carry them forward.
Permissions and Security
eDOCS permissions live at the file level. SharePoint manages access at the site, library, and folder level instead. Review your current permission model with stakeholders and rebuild it in a way that fits how SharePoint works, not just how eDOCS did.
Version History
eDOCS allows different file types across versions of the same document, like a DOCX draft and a PDF final. SharePoint requires a consistent file type across versions. Decide early whether you need full version history or just the current version, since that shapes your approach.
Folder Structure and Path Length
SharePoint caps file paths at 400 characters. If you’re recreating eDOCS folder structures, or building new ones from metadata, flatten what you can and lean on metadata for organization instead of deep folder nesting.
Workflows and Integrations
Workflows built in eDOCS won’t carry over directly. Identify which ones are still critical and plan to rebuild them in Power Automate or another Microsoft tool. Review any other system integrations at the same time.
Cleaning Up Before You Move
A migration is the easiest opportunity you’ll get to clear out redundant, outdated, or trivial (ROT) content. Fewer files to migrate means a faster, cleaner project and a more useful SharePoint environment on the other side.
Testing Before You Launch
Run a pilot migration and user acceptance testing before rolling out to everyone. It’s the best way to confirm your data, permissions, and user experience actually hold up.
Choosing the Right Tools
Not every migration tool can handle custom metadata or version history, and a rushed tool choice tends to show up later as delays and added cost. If your content needs significant cleanup, plan for a dedicated ROT tool as well.
Helping Your Team Adjust
The technical migration is only half the project. People need to actually use SharePoint once it’s live.
- Train early: give people time with SharePoint’s navigation and document tools before go live, not after.
- Show the upside: real time co-authoring, Teams integration, and mobile access are genuine improvements over eDOCS, and worth calling out.
- Communicate the change: phased rollouts, clear updates, and ongoing support go a long way toward buy in.
- Keep listening: feedback from your pilot group, and again after go live, helps you fix friction points quickly.
What to Look for in a Migration Partner
Not every IT team has the bandwidth or specialized experience to run an eDOCS to SharePoint migration on top of daily operations. Look for a partner with:
- Direct experience in both eDOCS and SharePoint, not just one or the other
- A track record of migrating metadata and permissions accurately
- Familiarity with the compliance requirements relevant to your industry
- A real plan for training and change management, not just data movement
How Compass365 Can Help
We’ve spent years working in both eDOCS and SharePoint, and we’ve guided organizations through this exact transition many times, in both directions. We handle the parts that are easy to get wrong, like content cleanup, metadata mapping, permissions, workflow rebuilds, and training, so your team can stay focused on daily work while we manage the migration.
Ready to Talk Through Your Migration?
If eDOCS is part of your infrastructure and you’re weighing your next move, we’re happy to talk through what a SharePoint migration would look like for your organization.
Learn more about Compass365’s SharePoint and Microsoft 365 migration services, or schedule a free strategy session to talk through your timeline and options.
