In the Squirrel system, Orphaned Files refer to files that are no longer linked to their original SharePoint sites or have become disconnected from their source due to various reasons, such as site migrations, deletions of the Squirrel Stub File, or reorganization. These files still exist within the Squirrel system but cannot be accessed or managed in the usual way because they are no longer associated with the original location.

Why Files Become Orphaned:

Site Deletion: When a SharePoint site is deleted, all associated files may become orphaned if they are not archived or moved to another site.

Site Reorganization: If a site is reorganized and files are moved or restructured, some files might not get properly re-linked, resulting in them becoming orphaned.

Stub File Deleted: If a Stub File has been deleted or moved to a new location, then the link between the stub and the archived data is broken.

Select Orphaned Files from the Squirrel Menu
From there the main window will now show you all of your documents that have been archived from your SharePoint Sites by Squirrel, but the original file location has been deleted.

Restoring Orphaned Files

A site for orphaned files will be created for any file restorations of archives that have lost their links to the stub file. The Squirrel Administrator can rehydrate a file to the Orphaned Files SharePoint Site, and provide the user with access to their original file.

Orphaned Files Table

The table in the Orphaned Files section provides several key pieces of information for each file:

• Filename: The name of the orphaned file.
• Date Archived: When the file was archived in the system.
• Filepath: The original location of the file within SharePoint.
• File Size: The size of the orphaned file in MB.
• Action: Provides options for managing the orphaned file, such as restoring or deleting it.