Online file storage can be used to back up or share your work files, as well as provide online document editing and creation. For students, faculty, and staff at Missouri State University, online storage is included with the Office 365 for Education subscription. The below options are the only recommended solutions for online storage of university data. For more information, see the Best Practices for Securely Storing University Data.
OneDrive for Business is a file storage system provided by Microsoft that allows you to upload existing files, create files in the Office 365 Web Applications, and share files with other users. All full-time faculty and staff members and currently enrolled students receive an individual OneDrive for Business account with their Office 365 for Education subscription. Your OneDrive for Business account should be used to store and create school and work-related documents; there are several free online storage options available if you would like to use online storage for your personal files.
Some of the features and benefits of OneDrive for Business are listed below:
- 1 TB (1,000 GB) of file storage for each user
- Desktop sync client to manage and store files outside of the Office 365 web portal
- Secure storage for university data*
- Easily share documents from within the OneDrive web application
- Integration with Outlook and Outlook Online
- Collaborate with other users synchronously via the Office 365 Web Applications
- Quickly create new documents using the Office 365 Web Applications from within the OneDrive web application
- Documents created in the Office 365 Web Applications are automatically saved to OneDrive
- Mobile app to view and edit documents on the go
Please Note: If you should leave the university and are not currently enrolled or no longer maintain an employment status, all of the files in your individual OneDrive for Business account will be deleted. Any files you add to an Office 365 Group, Team, or SharePoint account will remain unaffected.
Included with Office 365 for Education,
Groups and Teams allow members to easily collaborate and communicate with other members. In addition to your individual OneDrive for Business account, each Office 365 Group or Team also gets 1 TB of online file storage. Groups and Teams receive all of the same benefits and features of OneDrive as individual users. Group and Team files can then be accessed via the
OneDrive for Business web app, the Teams site or desktop application, or SharePoint Online. You should store all critical work files in a Group or Team instead of your individual OneDrive account so they will not be deleted should you leave the university. Groups and Teams can only be created by Missouri State faculty and staff.
SharePoint is a web-based document and information management system that integrates with Microsoft Office. SharePoint uses pages and web components, similar to WebPress, to organize content. Before Missouri State switched to Office 365 Education, some departments housed their documents on SharePoint sites to create an intranet for employees. Now that we use Office 365 for Education, SharePoint Online is included with each student, faculty, and staff member’s subscription. SharePoint Online is where all Office 365 Groups and Teams are housed; by using SharePoint Online, Office 365 Groups and Teams are integrated with other Microsoft applications like Delve, Sway, Planner, and Yammer. This means that users can access their Group and Team documents from both OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online because the files are stored on SharePoint servers rather than OneDrive servers. Users do not need to update or maintain their Group or Team SharePoint sites unless they wish to; this is an automated process, and SharePoint Online simply serves as a backdrop for these applications.
References
Refer to the following resources for additional information:
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