OneDrive Quick Start Guide (store, sync, share)

You can work with the files you store in OneDrive for Business right from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Office desktop apps. There’s no need to go to your Microsoft 365 site in a browser.

Save a file to OneDrive for Business from an Office desktop app

With a document open in an Office desktop app, click File > Save As > OneDrive – YourCompanyName. For example, OneDrive – Contoso.
Browse to the file you want to open, and then click Open.

Open a OneDrive for Business file from an Office desktop app

In an Office desktop app, click File > Open > OneDrive – YourCompanyName. For example, OneDrive – Contoso.
Browse to the file you want to open, and then click Open.
Once you add OneDrive for Business as a place in one Office app, you can save files from all your Office apps.TIPS If you don’t see OneDrive – YourCompanyName, click Add a Place > Microsoft 365 SharePoint. Then sign in to Microsoft 365 with your work or school account.

Syncing your files with your computer

Sync OneDrive for Business to your computer, and then get to your files in File Explorer instead of in a web browser. All your changes sync to OneDrive for Business whenever you’re online.

At the top of the page, select OneDrive. Or, select the app launcher , and then select OneDrive.
On your OneDrive for Business page, click Sync.
At the prompt, click Sync Now to start the sync app.The app automatically fills out the name and web address of your OneDrive for Business library.
Select Sync Now in the app to start syncing.You can click Show my files in the app to open the synced OneDrive for Business folder in File Explorer. The folder appears in your Windows Favorites as OneDrive for Business or OneDrive – YourCompanyName.

NOTE To sync files to your computer, you need the OneDrive for Business sync app, available with an Microsoft 365 subscription that includes Office 2013 desktop applications.

Managing your files in OneDrive for Business

After you sync your OneDrive for Business files with your computer, you can put away your browser and manage your files like other files on your computer. Need to add a file to OneDrive for Business? Just drag it to your OneDrive for Business folder. You move, rename, and delete your files the same way you’re used to, with one important difference: the changes you make to OneDrive for Business files will sync to all your other devices. So if you delete a file here, it’s deleted everywhere.

Copy or move files in OneDrive for Business

In File Explorer, select the files you want to copy or move.
Right-click the files and drag them to your OneDrive – YourCompanyName folder or to another location.
Select Copy here or Move here on the shortcut menu.

Rename a file in OneDrive for Business

Right-click the file you want to rename in your OneDrive – YourCompanyName folder.
Select Rename on the shortcut menu.
Type the new name for your file.

Delete a file in OneDrive for Business

Select the file you want to delete in your OneDrive – YourCompanyName folder.
Press Delete on your keyboard.

TIP Remember, any changes you make to a file in your OneDrive for Business folder apply to all devices, not just to this computer. The changes will sync to all your other devices.

Sharing files with others

When you store your files in OneDrive for Business, you can share with others from any device by going to your Microsoft 365 site in a browser. Or you can share a Word document, PowerPoint presentation, or Excel spreadsheet right from within Office without even going to Microsoft 365 in a separate window. Whichever way you choose to share Office files, you can work with others at the same time they work on a file and see the changes that other people make as they make them.

Share a file from a site

At the top of the page, select OneDrive. Or, select the app launcher , and then select OneDrive.
Select the file you want to share, and then select Share.
In the Share window, type the name of each person you want to share the file with. As you type each name, suggestions appear that match your contacts. When you see the name you want, select it to add it to the invitation list.
Select the permission in the list that you want to grant people. You can change the permission later for any person.
If you want, type a message to send to all the people you’re inviting. The email message invitees receive will include a link to the shared document.
If you don’t want to send an email to invitees, click Show Options, and then clear Send an email invitation.
Click Share.

TIP To share files with everyone in your organization, drag the files into your Shared with Everyone folder. Or if you already have the Share window open (as in step 2 above), type Everyone instead of the name of a person.

Share a file from an Office desktop app

With the file open in , Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or another Office app, click File > Share > Invite People.
Under Invite People, type the name of each person you want to share the file with. As you type each name, suggestions appear that match your contacts. When you see the name you want, select it to add it to the invitation list.
Select the permission in the list that you want to grant people. You can change the permission later for any person.
If you want, type a message you want to send to all the people you’re inviting. The email message invitees receive will include a link to the shared document.
Click Share.

Work on files with others at the same time

When you store and share your files in OneDrive for Business, you can work with others at the same and avoid reconciling multiple versions of your files. Work together from either the online or the desktop versions of Word, PowerPoint, or OneNote. For workbooks, use Excel Online. If someone opens the workbook in the Excel desktop application, the workbook can’t be edited in Excel Online until it’s closed again in desktop Excel.

Here are a few details to keep in mind as you work with others:

In the desktop programs, co-authoring works best in the most recent version of Office (Mac and Windows), but is also supported in Office 2010.
There’s no special co-authoring mode and no command to begin working together on a document. Just open the file for editing and start working.
As you edit, the Office app tells you when other people are working too. In Word, you’ll even see which paragraph they’re working on.
Updates are handled differently in some programs from others. For example, OneNote notebooks and Excel Online workbooks show updates immediately. In Word documents, save the document to share your updates and to see others’ updates.

Updating...