Office 365 help series – OneDrive Sync
OneDrive for Business Sync
You can sync OneDrive to your workstation or laptop to handle your files “on the go”. OneDrive for Business provides a minimum storage capacity of 1TB. If you spend time away from your Internet connectivity, Onedrive Sync is a useful tool.
Watch the video for a quick tour of OneDrive synch and browse our notes below to find out about important considerations and Sync tools.
OneDrive for Business
About OneDrive for Business Sync
OneDrive for Business is Office 365’s principle file storage service for users. OneDrive for Business users are allocated 1TB of storage. You can manage files using OneDrive Online at portal.office365.com. Also, you can synchronise files locally, so that you can access files without Internet access to Office 365 services.
Tablets and mobile devices might not have sufficient capacity to store more than 2-4GB, whereas OneDrive supports 1TB. Syncing is most useful when you need access to files that you might temporarily be without Internet access for. In addition to browser based management Windows 10 supports a built-in OneDrive sync client, and there are tools for managing OneDrive files within Outlook. Recent OneDrive for Business features include:
- Large file uploads – 10GB
- Selective sync
- Configurable options for network administrators
Files can be shared in OneDrive to other licensed users internal and external to an orgnization, and OneDrive includes tools for document custody, tracking, versioning, antivirus, and even litigation locks. For documents which need to be shared between groups, users should consider Sharepoint.
OneDrive for Business - considerations
Managing files in the Cloud
The most important consideration when planning Cloud storage is the bandwidth you rely on for your Internet access. Users often have several gigabytes of files which can be difficult to manage online with minimum cost broadband subscriptions. It is important to manage data. Files which are no longer necessary cause “bloat” which impedes network performance, and poorly optimimized files which users cannot access with mobile telephony can reduce productivity. Bear in mind these guidelines to help facilitate network performance:
- Bandwidth reliability and availability vs user needs
- File retention policies to manage redundant data
- File naming conventions and keywording
- Plan for document sharing, custody, and versioning
- File size optimization
- File synchronisation policy
Lastly, consider your legal obligations to protect data when sharing and distributing files. When you share files with others, you may not be able to control what happens to that data, and you may be liable at law for consequential data leakage or data loss. For instance, if employees use their own mobile devices for storing business files consider if you sufficient services to manage devices which you would not normally consider to be part of your conventional computer network.
Using OneDrive with Office 365
Toggle through the notes below by clicking open the headings to find out how you can improve your experience with Office 365 and OneDrive.
OneDrive Sync
About OneDrive for Business file sync
You can use OneDrive for Business or Sharepoint site libraries to synchronise folders and files to your computer and then access your files from Windows File Explorer instead of using a web browser to manage files. All subsequent updates you make to files saved in OneDrive locally sync to OneDrive for Business or site libraries whenever you are online.
OneDrive is built in to Windows 10, so Microsoft has retired the Windows app. Open File Explorer to browse your OneDrive files.
Apps for Android and iOS are available from their respective stores.
https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-ie/download/