How to host the Web Archive in SharePoint

In addition to hosting your Web Archive on a web server or in a shared network folder, you can also host the archive in SharePoint.

For this purpose the HTML and JSON file extensions in your archive need to be changed to ASPX and JS extensions respectively. Seascape comes with a built-in tool that allows you to change the file extensions in your web archive automatically.

Once the file extensions have been changed, you can upload the archive to SharePoint and share the URL to the index.aspx file with the end-users.

Note that there are a few prerequisites that you need to meet before you begin to upload your web archive to SharePoint. The prerequisites are listed below in this article.

Web archive upload prerequisites

Below are the three prerequisites that you need to meet in SharePoint in order to host the web archive on your SharePoint site.

1. Create site with classic experience initially

The web archives can only be hosted on sites that were initially created with classic experience, as SharePoint has disabled running aspx files on modern sites.

You can still host the web archive on a modern site, but the site needs to be created with classic experience initially, and only then upgraded to a modern site.

Click here to find out more about creating classic sites in SharePoint.

2. Enable SharePoint permissions

In order for the aspx files to open in the web browser (as opposed to downloading as a normal file) the person who uploads the archive to SharePoint must have at least the “Design” permission or “Add and Customize Pages” site permission assigned:

This permission is required only for the user who is uploading the archive.

All other users will be able to view the .aspx files in their web browser regardless of their respective permission level.

3. Custom Script setting

The Custom Script settings need to be configured as shown in the below screenshot:

To edit the Custom Script settings open your SharePoint Admin Center by navigating to https://<your_tenant_name>-admin.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/online/TenantSettings.aspx and look for the Custom Script section (replace <your_tenant_name> with your domain name).

After you save your settings it may take up to 24 hours for the new settings to take effect.

Change the file extensions

Once you have updated your SharePoint settings you can continue to update the file extensions in your web archive.

Open your Seascape database, then open the Actions menu, and click Other. Then select the "Admin\Upload Web Viewer to SharePoint" and click run.

Next, select the root folder of the archive that you wish to update and click Open:

The agent will now begin to update the file extensions in your archive (if needed, you can view the agent's progress using the Java Debug console in Notes).

After the agent completes the run, open your archive folder and verify that the extensions have been updated correctly:

Upload your archive to SharePoint

With the file extensions updated, you can now upload the Web Archive to a SharePoint library, and share the URL to the index.aspx file with your users.

Imortant: Note that you can't use the SharePoint upload utility in Seascape to upload web archive to Sharepoint, but you only use the Drag & Drop or the Sync methods described below.

1. Drag & drop

If the size of the web archive is not too big you can upload it by simply dragging & dropping the entire root folder or the archive into SharePoint document library:

2. OneDrive sync

If you are working with very large archives then it's recommended to use OneDrive for business to sync the root folder of your archive with the SharePoint document library.

Create a new document library and click the Sync button:

When prompted, confirm the permission to open OneDrive (if you are not logged in with your business account you will need to enter your credentials).

OneDrive will now create a new subfolder folder in %userprofile%\ with the name of the document library and open the subfolder in Windows Explorer.

You can now move or copy the entire root folder of your web archive to this folder and it will sync automatically with your SharePoint document library:

Open your archive in SharePoint

When the users open the archive index.aspx file in their browser they will see the same archive interface as then the archive is opened from a web browser or a local workstation, and will be able to navigate the document views normally.

Create a classic SharePoint site

In your SharePoint admin center (eg. https://<tenant>-admin.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/online/AdminHome.aspx#/home), go to Sites > Active Sites and click the Create button:

Select Other options:

Select More Templates in the templates dropdown:

In the new site dialog, select Team site (classic experience) as a template, fill in the remaining fields and click OK.

Note that it can time some time for the new site to be created and UI could be unresponsive during this time.