Azure Blob Storage Access Without Losing SharePoint's Interface

Most organizations face an impossible choice: keep SharePoint's great user interface but pay premium storage costs, or move to cheaper Azure storage but lose the familiar SharePoint experience. There's a third option.

The Traditional Approaches (And Why They Don't Work)

Option 1: Move everything to SMB file shares

Many IT departments consider moving files from SharePoint to a separate file share to save money. The problem? Users lose:

• SharePoint's web-based file browser
• Integrated search across documents
• Seamless Office 365 integration
• Permission management through SharePoint groups

The result: users complain, productivity drops, and you end up moving back to SharePoint.

Option 2: External Storage Links

Some organizations create links from SharePoint to external Azure storage. This creates a disjointed experience where users have to:

• Leave SharePoint to access files
• Learn new interfaces
• Manage separate permissions
• Deal with broken workflows

The Hybrid Solution: Best of Both Worlds

What if you could keep SharePoint's interface but save files directly to Azure Blob Storage? That's exactly what BlobBridge does.

How It Works

BlobBridge is a SharePoint web part that provides a document-library-style interface within your SharePoint sites and connects to Azure Blob Storage containers. Users get:

• Familiar interface - Drag & drop uploads, folder browsing, file search - all within SharePoint
• Lower training impact - Users work from a familiar SharePoint-based page experience for blob-stored files
• Blob storage pricing - Pay ~£22/TB/month instead of £225/TB/month
• Better performance - Direct uploads to Azure, no SharePoint sync delays

Real-World Example

A design agency was paying £450/month for 2TB of SharePoint storage to store large .tif and .psd files. After implementing BlobBridge:

• Storage costs dropped to £44/month (£406 monthly savings)
• Upload speeds improved (direct to Azure)
• No user complaints or retraining needed
• SharePoint page permissions control who can see the page, while the configured SAS token controls which blob actions are possible.

Technical Benefits

For IT Administrators

• Deploy once per Microsoft 365 tenant with tenant-wide licensing
• Users stay in SharePoint, with page visibility managed through SharePoint and blob access scoped by the configured SAS token.
• No data migration required
• Scales with your Azure subscription

For End Users

• Reduced behaviour change compared with a separate storage portal
• Faster file uploads and downloads
• Access files from anywhere SharePoint works
• SharePoint page visibility plus SAS-scoped blob access

When This Approach Makes Sense

The hybrid SharePoint + Azure Blob approach works best when you have:

• Large files - Media, design files, archives over 100MB
• Growing storage needs - Adding several GB per month
• Budget pressure - SharePoint storage costs becoming significant
• User satisfaction concerns - Can't afford to disrupt workflows

Considerations

Like any solution, there are trade-offs to consider:

• Bandwidth costs - Azure charges for downloads, though usually minimal
• Different backup approach - Files are in Azure, not SharePoint backups
• Custom web part - A third-party SPFx web part, not a Microsoft storage feature

Getting Started

If your organization is spending over £100/month on SharePoint storage and users need to keep their familiar interface, the hybrid approach could save thousands annually while maintaining productivity.

BlobBridge provides this approach for SharePoint-based access to Azure Blob Storage. Learn more about implementation or contact us to discuss your specific needs.