OneDrive for Business

What is it?

OneDrive is the University’s first choice platform for storing your information. It should be used for your working drafts and to collaborate on documents before they are finalised and stored elsewhere, such as a SharePoint Online site, where they should be managed in accordance with the Records Retention Schedule.

  • OneDrive gives you cloud based storage and connects you to all your files online. It lets you store and protect your files, share them with other members of staff, students and those external to the University, and allows you to access to your files from anywhere, across all your devices.
  • Files and folders in OneDrive are all private until you decide to share.
  • You can use it as a direct replacement for your P Drive.

OneDrive for Business works well for:

  • ‘My documents’ scenarios- store all of your files in OneDrive.
  • Simple sharing of documents between small groups of collaborators.
  • Storing data in ‘the cloud’ where compliance and security can be enforced.
  • Syncing files to mobile computers and devices for working offline or remotely.

Using OneDrive instead of your P Drive has a number of advantages:

  • You will have more storage space (1TB standard, 5TB by request)
  • It is easier to share/send documents and control your sharing
  • It saves University server space
  • It saves energy and reduces our carbon footprint
  • Integrates with the Microsoft 365 (M365) ecosystem (Teams meeting recordings, Whiteboard, Loop, personal productivity workflows via Power Automate)

OneDrive is accessible via Windows Explorer in the same way that your current drives are, though more of its functionality is available if you access it via Office.com

Support

If you are having issues with OneDrive, you can use the in-app help function for assistance. The help icon is the ‘?’ located top right.

For help with OneDrive, please visit the M365 Help and Support site. Here you will find:

If this doesn’t resolve your issue you can contact the IT Support Centre.  

For access and to set up OneDrive as a desktop application, please follow these instructions.   

Instructions for staff and postgraduate research students on how to access Microsoft 365 are available here: 

Learning about OneDrive

Microsoft provide a number of written resources which tell you more about OneDrive:

Information handling

Continue to adhere to the Information Governance Office Best practice guidance on sharing and storing information and Records Retention Schedule whenever you’re working with data.

The M365 Collaboration and Document Storage pages also provide useful tips on managing your information.

Information classified as Very Sensitive must not be processed or stored on M365 and advice must be sought from the Information Governance Office if you handle this type of information.

MS365 does not provide the processing environment necessary to meet research funder requirements, so the researchers will still need to use the Highly Restricted Data Service for storing and processing Highly Restricted data.

Need help on information handling? Contact your Information Governance Guardian.

Limitations

OneDrive for Business has some limitations to be aware of, such as invalid file names and file types when synching with SharePoint, for example.

Top tips

  • Your OneDrive has 1TB of storage which is 200 times the amount of the standard P drive.
  • The drive can be accessed in the same way as your P drive when you save items or in Windows Explorer. It can also be accessed online from Office.com and from here you can work on your documents online.
  • When working collaboratively on OneDrive documents, make sure the documents are then being transferred to and stored in an appropriate location depending on the type of data e.g., Research data in a Research Data Storage Space.
  • OneDrive has a ‘Shared’ section, accessible via the left-hand menu path. At the top of the ‘shared’ section page there is a ‘shared by you’ link. You should regularly review this and stop sharing any documents you no longer need to share.