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The .shurl file type

Registered by step 3, Archive endpoint

A placeholder has to look like something and do something when clicked. When Create or update the endpoint finishes, it tells Microsoft that files ending .shurl belong to your ShareMaster Archive application, which gives them an icon and sends clicks to the endpoint in your Azure subscription. It is not a separate step.

Makes changes. Registers a file type across your whole organisation.
On this page What it does How it runs How it works What you need What it will not do Read next

What it does

  • Configure registers .shurl every time, so every archive run can choose either kind of placeholder: a .shurl ShareMaster link, or a .url Windows shortcut. .url needs no registration at all - it is an ordinary internet shortcut.
  • .shurl is the one file type registered. What clicking a placeholder does - put the file back where it was, or download a copy - is written inside that placeholder when it is archived, so one library can hold both and changing it needs no re-registration.
  • Putting the file back is the default: it returns to SharePoint and opens the way it always did, which is what someone clicking a document usually wants. A copy leaves the file archived and the space saved.
  • Placeholders that earlier versions wrote as .shrun are no longer registered here. Restore Archived Files still finds them and puts them back.
  • The claim is a property of your own application registration. It applies inside your organisation only, and it is removed when you remove the application.
  • This is Microsoft's own file handler mechanism, the same one other file types in Microsoft 365 are opened with.

How it runs

  1. The endpoint and icons are checked. The current endpoint package and all public icon files must answer before registration.
  2. .shurl is registered. Registers the filename click and Open menu action. A correct registration is kept untouched; an outdated one is repaired.
  3. SharePoint availability is checked. Requests a cache refresh for your account, then checks the actions and icons SharePoint actually serves.
  4. Test the clicks. When available, reopen the library and click a placeholder that downloads a copy and one that puts the file back.

How it works

Registration refuses to run until the endpoint is ready, because a file type registered against the wrong address takes Microsoft's whole caching period to correct. It then checks that the endpoint's code and every icon file answer. The icons are public image files served from sharemaster.io; the click itself goes to the endpoint in your subscription.

The registration is written onto your own Archive application. If an entry already claims the extension, its identity is reused so the registration is replaced rather than duplicated, and any other file handler someone else registered on the application is kept. The endpoint's sign-in return address is added to the application at the same time, because the endpoint signs in the person who clicked and Microsoft only returns them to an address the application declares. Both are read back, and a registration that does not match what was asked for is reported as incomplete. When the existing registration already matches, nothing is written, so running it again does not restart Microsoft's caching.

Availability is a separate check, made as you: ShareMaster asks SharePoint to refresh its cached file handlers for your account, then reads the actions and icons SharePoint actually serves. That is what clears the amber notice. Check repeats this without rewriting the registration.

What you need

  • The consented Archive application from step 1. The endpoint is created in the same step.

What it will not do

  • Microsoft caches registrations on its servers and in the browser, and can take 24 to 48 hours to show them everywhere. The step shows an amber notice until SharePoint serves it.
  • Registered and available are different states. Check reads the current settings without rewriting the registration or changing its saved date.
  • Archiving before it is available is allowed: the files are safe, but a .shurl placeholder shows no icon and a click does nothing useful until the rollout finishes.
  • If the endpoint is fine but the registration is missing or outdated, choose Repair file type. It does not republish the endpoint.
  • This works in SharePoint and OneDrive for work. It does not apply to personal OneDrive accounts, and it does not change how a synced folder on someone's PC behaves.

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