When a file is archived, Enterprise Vault can optionally leave one of the following types of shortcut in its place:
Internet shortcuts can be placed on any network share. When a user double-clicks an internet shortcut, the archived file is retrieved and is shown in the appropriate application.
Internet shortcuts have a suffix of .url, which means that, for example, files that are shortcuts to Word documents do not appear as .doc files. When a user opens an internet shortcut from within an application such as Word the shortcut file itself is opened, not the archived file.
Internet shortcuts have the advantage that they can be used on both NTFS and non-NTFS devices.
Placeholder shortcuts behave exactly as the original files. A placeholder shortcut has the same file extension as the file to which it is a shortcut. When a user opens a placeholder shortcut, the original file is automatically retrieved.
Table: Characteristics of placeholder shortcuts shows the behavior of placeholder shortcuts.
Table: Characteristics of placeholder shortcuts
Placeholder shortcuts are supported on NTFS devices, NetApp Filers, and EMC Celerra devices. For details of the exact requirements, see the Enterprise Vault Compatibility Charts.
In the archiving policy you can control the time at which Enterprise Vault creates shortcuts. For example, you can create a rule to archive Microsoft Office files. The rule can make Enterprise Vault leave the original files on the disk and create shortcuts to them later. Enterprise Vault can create a shortcut to a file according to any of the following:
By creating a rule like this one you can ensure that files are archived for safety but are still available for editing. When a file is no longer being changed frequently, Enterprise Vault creates a shortcut to the archived copy.
File System Archiving can archive all file types. However, some file types such as executable files and .PST files are not suitable candidates for file archiving.