Document Storage: OneDrive, SharePoint or Microsoft Teams

[@hazcatsophia]

American here. Hearing IT information in a Yorkshire accent - GOLD. I love that accent. So cool. 😊

[@NaeDeen]

I spent TWO days trying to get my employees set up properly and wasted so much time. This man solved my problem in less than 10 minutes. I’m not sure whether to be grateful or over it. 😂

[@peterhind4363]

The web is saturated with difficult to understand and outdated info on these topics. This was a sensational, concise explanation. Great help, thank you so much!

[@lopiipol]

Finally, it's the first time iI undestand the interaction of these three tools. Thank you, I was confused a bit before.

[@lundimardi1975]

You're a top explainer: thank you. Along with colleagues I, too, had wondered what on earth was the difference between the three, and now I know and can spread the news at work. You've helped me to create our SharePoint site and we can now streamline how we work instead of constantly sharing single files from OneDrive. CHEERS!

[@bearded365guy]

That’s great. Glad my video helped.

[@scottmattson360]

What don't understand is WHY??? That is an honest question, my company is jumping in to 365 with both feet and I fail to see how efficiency is gained by going from using one file storage program, I.e. one drive (formerly we used google drive) and then switching to use three I.e. one drive, sharepoint and teams? There are tons of videos explaining what each are used for but none explain how this creates efficiency. I understand how this locks in microsoft customers but I don't see how it makes my job day more efficiently managed.

[@JoelDale]

This. All of this!!!

[@stew6662]

Since this comment was posted 11 months ago, I’m curious to know if you have the same view.

[@panes840]

​@stew6662 what's your view?

[@psykecarlosmadeit]

Please let us know what happened

[@richa8308]

A brilliant no nonsense question. What's the answer? (I'm trying to stick with 365 whilst another colleague wants to switch to Google. How do I defend this? Should I defend this?)

[@waldo4460]

Thanks for this insightful video! I've always found it difficult to understand the differences between MS Team, SharePoint, and OneDrive, but your explanation has really helped me to see how each one can be used in a unique way to streamline the workflow and improve collaboration. Keep up the great work!

[@johnwalshaw]

Love the videos! Something to note, in my experience clicking Sync from a SharePoimt Document Library creates major issues, especially when used for many sites. This creates a OneDrive Sync entry for each Document Library. The alternative and more robust in my experience is Add Shortcut to OneDrive (the next button over). Note that clicking Sync vs Add Shortcut to OneDrive are mutually exclusive. So you have to start by deleting those Sync relationships, which is a bit of a nightmare, given it leaves all the files locally. With Add Shortcut to OneDrive, the user can navigate in an identical fashion as well as rename those shortcuts or delete, etc. It's far less complicated in my experience and problem free, whereas Sync is not and is not something my own mother should use. I hope this is helpful.

[@jnjnjnjnjnjn]

I've read that Sync may be going away eventually and Shortcuts are the best approach for SharePoint access via OneDrive

[@johnwalshaw]

@@jnjnjnjnjnjn I like it! Sync is great in principle but a nightmare to work with.

[@alanjrobertson]

Really useful to know, I'd only used shortcuts before rather than Sync, was going to look at changing but given this comment will just keep using shortcuts!

[@Deedzy86]

For those reading this in 2024, I would recommend you use the "add shortcut to OneDrive" option instead of "sync" for SharePoint as the former is account-bound (meaning linked to your OneDrive log-in credentials) instead of device-bound, and will save you time in future if you have lots of syncs when something breaks

[@StopWhining491]

Excellent explanations of what to use when. Microsoft loves redundancy even when it leads to user confusion.

[@SamsonMuthomi-u1z]

The best explanation on the web hands down! Cheers!

[@andrew8061]

Excellent explanation Jonathan, thank you. As an IT provider ourselves, we're always looking for ways to simplify the many services offered today, and your video by far, is one of the best.

[@shivmahla4988]

Thank you very much!! first time my confusion got clear that what is the diffence between OndDrive and SharePoint site. Kudos to you.

[@jmajanen]

Excellent explanation on Microsoft’s rather confusing approach (and it doesn’t help they keep changing the product names). You made sense of it all.

[@Jepper333]

Jonathan, having the knowledge is 1 thing... but understanding it is another. thank you for your super informative videos! they help me out a lot.

[@Tabernash21]

Great explanation. I also think that for ongoing accounts it makes the most sense to save in teams so that I can get that stuff out of my onedrive so it doesn't get bogged down.

[@hrostgarfthk918]

Thank You! Your explanation made the differences between the products very clear.

[@GrahamsYouTube]

Currently planning to move data from a server to Teams, appreciate the explanation

[@kamuffi78]

one of the best explained vs. i have ever seen. Good Job 👍

[@joelgulick393]

Great description of the products within side Microsoft regarding files and folders where to place them either in one drive SharePoint or teams thanks for your help

[@michaelpietrzak2067]

Great stuff! Thank you for the video explaining this. I am just learning Sharepoint and this is tremendously helpful

[@alanjrobertson]

Great video, thanks. Interesting re being able to add one SharePoint site to another. There's also the option, rather than syncing a folder, to add a shortcut link to it within your own personal OneDrive

[@ennykraft]

I always tell people that it's ONEdrive cause it's for ONE person and SHAREpoint is set up for SHARING with others. If you're sending someone a link to a OneDrive, you're lending the file to that person. But it's still yours. If you upload a file to Teams or SharePoint everyone on that team owns it now. I prefer sharing files via Teams because it's easier to understand for people who can access and modify that file. What's missing in your video is posting a link to a file in another channel. That makes it view only.

[@idlewild]

Two other things: 1. A private channel within a Teams site will create *another* SharePoint site. 2. You can't replace the default "Files" link in the Teams channel to send to an existing SharePoint site. So users who (likely) are more and more using Teams, will be confused as to where to store theirs files: in the default Files tab (and backend SharePoint site for the Teams / or private Teams channel) or to a preferred existing SharePoint site that the Teams owners may have added.

[@sylp.6221]

Thank you very much for explained the difference so clearly!!!

[@cybermonkeyusa]

My recommendation is use Teams for company shared documents. You can easily manage the permissions easily. Sharepoint alone can be a permissions nightmare.

[@MSRahmanSD]

Excellent. Crystal clear explanation. You saved my day. Thank you

[@jill4539]

Thank you, this has been so helpful and easy to understand. Just what I needed.

[@5291982]

Beardful MAC USER here in Boca Raton! First time caller.

[@KanonetTI]

Great video. Objective and easy to understand!

[@dhillroy2525]

very helpful explanation @Jonathan Edwards! To the point and succint!

[@marcusineson]

Thank you sooooo much I have never been able to get my head around this until now but youve made it really clear

[@Labsy]

Thank you for one of the best explanation and use cases! It took me 10 minutes to decrypt "Max of Teams", but when I figured it out, I laughed out loud (aka lol)

[@matthewtelles8619]

amazing tutorial. Thank you for explaining both the intended setups and some company's bad habits setups. It was the later camp that I was in, but I'll use this knowledge to improve our system.

[@MatthewsTechHub]

Really helpful video thanks Jonathan! I am also an IT provider and this video is very helpful for a project we have coming up shortly.

[@bearded365guy]

Cheers Matthew. Hope the project goes well

[@katarzynaszerszenowicz7683]

Thank you so much! Your content is very beneficial!

[@katethackery9911]

Hi, I have some questions which I hope you can answer. We would like a central location in which all our files are kept. This is primarily for record keeping and auditing. As such we created a Sharepoint site with a lot of sub folders e.g. HR, Accounts etc. However, now that Teams is more widely used we have a little issue. People, understandably, feel like there Team is the place to share files, particularly given that it works great for collaboration. So people are adding new Teams and adding files there, which is creating entirely new Sharepoint Sites! Now our documents are not in the central Sharepoint site. They are all over the place, and we cant seem to remove permissions for people to add documents to Teams. We considered starting over, scrapping the central Sharepoint site and just committing to the Teams system. This would be okay except that this would mean creating a Team for every top level folder that we want! Its also a mess when it comes to auditing because people don’t have sight to each others existing Private Teams, similar or duplicate Teams are created. I seriously wish that Teams didn’t allow document saving but required you to share links from Sharepoint. Or at least let us turn off permissions for document sharing. Any thoughts on a solution?

[@bearded365guy]

Hi Kate, yes I’ve got some ideas for you. Fancy sending me an email? [e-mail]

[@echoztrip]

Great video mate (from a MSP owner in Australia!)

[@bearded365guy]

Thank you. Always good to hear nice things from fellow MSP’s!

[@greaterthanbut]

Thank you... Spot on! ❤ from the deserts of Arabia

[@mariocibao]

Excellent video, Thanks Jonathan for sharing

[@槍田イセクス]

Thank you for explaining one drive. I got it.

[@g04tn4d0]

And now it's tellin' me that it's sync'n me files. 🐐🤣😎 Best accent ever! 😎

[@dyspeezy]

This was super helpful and easy to understand! Thank you for the info!

[@LuanCarli-s3f]

Good job, very clear. Thank you.

[@Noursbear]

I haven't started watching but I know it's going to give me all the info am looking for according to my search lol

[@Noursbear]

and it did...

[@claudiapenna8778]

This video is really so helpful! Thank you

[@ryanfrost6115]

Great video! Very clear and direct!

[@bearded365guy]

Thank you

[@duwaynepetty409]

Great explanation!!!!

[@GlennRichardson]

Great video! Thank you. One question. at 8:27 you talk about syncing the files to your local machine. No problem there...But...How do you stop synchronizing those files? If I delete the files/folder under the "office icon" it deletes them from Teams/Sharepoint too. All I want to do is delete the local copies to clear up some space on my PC.

[@user-wd8ld1my8c]

Great video, very informative.

[@supersandrots]

Great stuff, thank you Jonathan!

[@CapNJunkie]

that helped tremendously. thank you

[@itsnotatoober]

Really good explainer

[@yohannesberhe8719]

Thank you very much for the information. is it possible to save documents in sharepoint and yet will not want to see it in teams. I only want to see documents where colleges work daily in teams. Thanks

[@mollyhead5379]

Thank you Jonathan. I am finally doing what I was told to do years ago. I'm watching videos about basic tech. Sign me "Aging Boomer who is getting a clue!"

[@getl0st]

The thing that wasn't explained in this Video is that with Microsoft Teams you can create Private Channels which can have restricted access so for example if your company has a HR Department and you don't everyone in the Organization having access to the HR Files, you create a Private HR Channel, add all of the Applicable people into that Channel and then get them to Synch the Files in the HR Channel to their Computer thus giving you the same sort of File Based permissions we used to have when everyone was using Mapped Drives to Servers

[@kevinlin1680]

wonderful, loads of my questions had been solved

[@azhockeynut8297]

one thing that really confuses people is using the term Personal in the context of Business. There is no personal space in business it all belongs to the business. I use the term individual instead then we rarely get the private photos etc of people on company resources.

[@sowmyaPotunuri]

Hi Jonathan , can we use two forms to update one row in Sharepoint list using a unique Id dropdown

[@wojciechczupta]

I want to save my work in 'My Documents' folder on HDD to have freedom to work wheter I'm online or offline. And then I want 'My Documents' to be automatically backed up in OneDrive. Is it possible? I used to have this feature on corporate PC. Now I use my own Microsoft 365 Business Standard and I can't find such option. All tutorials are about copying my documents to OneDrive, which I don't want to do to keep the offline freedom.

[@HeidiSutherland-n4t]

Any chance this information is available in written form?

[@atngaming2019]

Great video, but if i use rocketbook and it uploads my pages that i scan automatically to my OneDrive, can i also set it up in a way that its also automatically uploaded in my teams at the same time?

[@jamesjacques2840]

I have a quick question. We train engineers (employees on our MS Account) and distributors (non-employees outside of our MS Account). We want to share technical manuals with both groups, but obviously we need to limit the access for non-employees to files. Can you advise how to set up a share point site to share technical information for our employees and distributors?

[@bearded365guy]

Ok, create a SharePoint document site just for your technical manuals. Don’t put any corporate data inside of this site. Configure external sharing following these best practices learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/solutions/best-practices-anonymous-sharing?view=o365-worldwide

[@personamil]

What about sharing files and being able to live edits documents across institutions. Example, I am writing a grant with a collaborator at another University. Both my University and his have Microsoft 365. What is your recommendation to store and live editing files?

[@archanasharma7512]

ii uploaded allour company documents to onedrive, but now I think teams is better for collaboration and it will automatically add the sharepoint site. Does teams also allow connecting to your one drive so that i dont have to upload all the folders again ?

[@Birdseyev]

I hit the + sign in Teams but the "Document Library couldn't be found, not even when I searched for it. Has it been replaced with another app?

[@patrick__007]

Very clear. Thanks a lot. But what about permissions at the SharePoint site level (ow ere, members & visitors)? How to set this up correctly? In my opinion it is a bit of pain in the ....

[@luisfevel]

Is this Microsoft Teams Home or Work and School? I'm trying to set up a Teams folders with my family but cannot find how, using Teams home

[@bearded365guy]

I use Teams work

[@fratsmats]

Hello! Great video! So, as for a Company folder containing lots of files from several different departments you would suggest using Sharepoint? What about syncing Sharepoint with your own Desktop instead of One Drive?

[@bearded365guy]

Yes, one SharePoint library per department would be a good idea. It’s a bit confusing but the OneDrive app syncs both OneDrive and SharePoint

[@fratsmats]

@@bearded365guy Thanks for the suggestion! So If files are added to a Sharepoint site they can be found in the One Drive and vice versa? Are there also different limitations for Path lengths between the two? We are currently struggling with the fact very long paths cannot be synced due to Windows/Microsoft policies. I am trying to find a solution to that too

[@getl0st]

The easiest way to do it is create all of your SharePoint Sites in Teams which also gives you the ability to set up user based permissions, ie create a Private Channel in Teams for HR and then assign all of the HR People to that Team and then Synch the Files in that Private Channel to OneDrive

[@SarahOlsen-m2p]

I've been using shared pages on loop to capture 1x1 notes/conversations and goals. (As you know, documentation is very helpful if there are performance issues or you want to be aware of and supportive of employees' goals). Loop has been pretty difficult lately, not allowing copy and paste, and being pretty buggy. Do you know of a better Microsoft tool that would allow me to track/document conversations with employees/employee goals and progress over time?

[@carnereed4861]

I have spent the last few days trying to understand Teams, SharePoint and their structures. How do you manage large and multiple projects in teams especially if moving it from a traditional server based setup.

[@frase78906]

Is there any functional difference between syncing the Sharepoint site and adding a shortcut to OneDrive? Also, my company is looking to make a full transition to Teams and Teams-based Sharepoint sites, however the Files section gets confusing with "In Channels" vs "In Site Library." Any advice?

[@bearded365guy]

There is no functional difference. Both use the Onedrive app. Restrict people from being able to create SharePoint sites when creating Teams. Manage this centrally. Teams document storage is just a back end SP site.

[@alderm.contreras5521]

Really clarifying!

[@petera4813]

Hello. What about through an iphone outlook app? I have my iphone and want to save an attachment to sharepoint? It does not give me the option. Is there a solution?

[@almosttraveller7397]

WHy should I save my personal things in One drive? Its stored in a Server operated by Microsoft. SO they can access to it. I have my own storage in Laptop or external drive.

[@RolandLyngvig]

I love the name of your dog! 😆

[@bearded365guy]

It’s a great name 🙂

[@selectland1]

Great video, thank you.

[@leodsouza5272]

I have opted for Onedrive Business Plan 2 where in until 25 TB storage will be provided in Onedrive but beyond 25TB the storage will be provisioned in Sharepoint , Could advise how do we access the files from onedrive within sharepoint

[@patrickepps368]

Very informative, thanks

[@atwa70]

Thank you very much

[@DontTrip41]

Awesome training thanks

[@michaelortega804]

is possible to share a file using with sharepoint from standar O365 user to a exchange online plan 1 user? if so, how to work from windows explorer. thanks

[@bearded365guy]

Yes..

[@ITsEasyTraining1st]

Very good mate

[@ManeelxAkosAdor]

Amazing video 😎

[@DarrinBurns-ij8fe]

How are permissions granted/denied? Do we have to have a separate sub-channel within our Teams Channel, etc. ?

[@bearded365guy]

For which?

[@DarrinBurns-ij8fe]

@@bearded365guy If we use the migration tool, it looks like it does ask if you want to preserve permissions. My thought was it would have to be redone. So, if we have a Finance Teams Channel and then have subfolders; Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable, could permissions still be set so one department area could not view the others.

[@truthwsyf]

Hi @JonathanEdwardsTech - thanks - great video. If you already have a lot of files & folders in sharepoint - how can you sync it with Teams - without having to copy the files over. Since every Teams site files are hosted behind the scenes in Sharepoint - there must be an easy way to make all your sharepoint files appear within Teams - without having to copy them across (which would essentially make them available twice in sharepoint). I ask because some people prefer to use sharepoint, and others prefer to use Teams folder and yet others prefer to use their file explorer and have all the files sync'ed on their PCs. Could you pls kindly help explain this?

[@bearded365guy]

Hi, you can add an existing SharePoint site to any Teams channel.

[@truthwsyf]

@@bearded365guy Thanks. You mean to a Teams Channel=> Files and then by clicking "+Add Cloud Storage", or adding a Tab (select Sharepoint) and then point to the Sharepoint site that way? Isn't there a way to sync Files/Folders in Sharepoint with Files/Folders in Teams - (under a channel)? - so those who feel comfortable using Teams Files/Folders use it that way - while those employees who have been using sharepoint and don't want to transition to Teams for files - continue to work within Sharepoint - but everything remains synced (i.e. user A in Sharepoint adds new folders/files, and user B in Teams can see it, and if user B in Teams adds Files/folders - user A in Sharepoint can see it as well).

[@richa8308]

Worth mentioning that SharePoint is only available within Business Accounts.

[@samilong4508]

Thank you!

[@NassimCortocus]

Thank you boss !!

[@mikes9645]

Nice video!!!

[@AlainSylvestre]

The sync is a little bit tricky, If you sync the root document and later you sync something deeper in that first sync it become messy.

[@bearded365guy]

Yep, I agree. It can be temperamental

[@rob5800can]

Awesome video

[@FisherManGr]

When I am in a sharepoint group, what is the maximum space that I can upload files, and is this space occupied independent of the available space that is given per user?

[@konfetti002]

Great explanation 👍 Thnx!

[@vighnesh.acharya]

Bonus tip: SharePoint support 25tb per site where personal onedrive support only 5tb max

[@marcussp83]

Thank you for your video but this still is difficult to understand. I don’t understand why OneDrive can’t be used for a server? It looks just like File Explorer which my company currently uses to access our server documents. There are a lot of features in SharePoint and Teams that seem unnecessary to simply store files. We just got Microsoft365 and are looking to eliminate our server, so we’re looking for a way to have our folders/files stored in the cloud. OneDrive seems like a cloud version of FileExplorer, but everyone insists it should only be used for personal files. Why?! We’d like to have an Excel file, for example, that someone can open, edit and save it right back to the same location for others to view, open and edit. This is exactly how we use our current server but want to eliminate the server so we don’t have to worry about needing a VPN to access files remotely, back up files or be unable to access our files if the power goes out at our office. Help!!

[@bearded365guy]

Yes, the synchronised files will appear in file explorer - but they will actually be stored in OneDrive/SharePoint. Onedrive for personal files - your payslips etc SharePoint - for sharing files. If you need help, please let me know and we can arrange a call.

[@canningcoyle0]

brilliant thank you

[@yychummer]

Is sharepoint an additional cost?

[@reenanarvekar3772]

Hey Jonathan, thanks for sharing your knowledge. I have a doubt from a Onedrive storage perspective. Is Onedrive storage mapped against SharePoint at the back same as that of the teams channel. Your help would be really appreciated. Thanks.

[@bearded365guy]

No OneDrive is just for your own access. ONEdrive for personal. SHAREPoint for sharing

[@reenanarvekar3772]

@@bearded365guy what about OneDrive for Business which comes with storage /license

[@bearded365guy]

In my Business Onedrive I would store my own data - maybe my expense forms etc

[@martinargimon730]

You missed a critical point .. ‘Onedrive’ for Business. Lots of companies use this !