Microsoft tips: File sharing and storage using Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive

Microsoft offers a wide array of productivity tools for businesses of all sizes in Utah. The Office apps are arguably their most well-known tools, but since Microsoft never rests on their laurels, they’ve built apps to cover the collaboration and file storage needs of their customers, too.

Let’s first take a brief look at what Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive are, then check out a few tips and tricks you can use to make the most of these apps.

What are Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive?

Microsoft developers liken team projects to coins. One side of a coin is a Teams channel, a place where your team members can communicate with one another and collaborate on project files. One of the many things you and your teammates can do on that channel is open an Office file in that same channel and not have to open the corresponding Office app separately.

The flip side of the coin is a SharePoint team site, which contains a common repository or folder for those files. The two apps complement each other to make cloud-based teamwork easy-peasy.

OneDrive, on the other hand, is also a storage facility, but is built for use by individuals instead of teams. It’s like your My Documents folder, but in the cloud. OneDrive is for your drafts and for project files that don’t belong in an existing team site or necessitate the creation of a team site yet. You can share files to other individuals or transfer them to SharePoint when you need to.

If your company is big on teamwork and your staff uses Office apps heavily, switching to Microsoft 365 Business will give you access to Teams, SharePoint, and many other awesome productivity apps! Let our IT experts at [company_short] help you find the right subscription plan for your business.

How do you store files in OneDrive and SharePoint?

Here are a couple of convenient ways to add files to the app of your choice.

In OneDrive

Upload to the app

Open OneDrive.
Click the Upload button in the top menu bar.
Pick the folders and files you want to store into your desired location in OneDrive.

Drag and drop to a folder

In the app, select or create a new folder in OneDrive.
Cut, copy, or drag and drop the files or folders you want onto the OneDrive folder you’ve selected or created.

Use the Save As function of MS Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote)

Click the File tab.
Click Save As.
Select the OneDrive account of your choice.

In SharePoint

Upload to the app

Go to a SharePoint site.
Click the Upload button.
Choose the files and folders you want to store on that site.

Drag and drop to a folder

Open SharePoint Online and go to your desired site
Drag and drop what you want onto the destination SharePoint folder.

Use the Save As function of MS Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote)

Click the File tab
Click Save As.
Select the SharePoint site of your choice.

If SharePoint sites do not yet appear:

Click Add a Place.
Select Office 365 SharePoint.
In the dialog box that appears, enter your SharePoint account credentials. SharePoint shortcuts will start appearing as Save As options for all MS Office apps.

How do you share and store files on Teams?

Sharing files of any type with your teammates is easy on Teams — all you need is access to these on the device you’re using. These are the files that are:

Stored on your device
In SharePoint, OneDrive, or other cloud-based storage
On the Files tab of your chats and channels on Teams

To quickly share a file with your team, share it in a group or one-on-one chat

The Conversations tab is where you and your teammates will do most of your communicating. Often, sharing files will be necessary, To share a file, you can copy-paste the link to that file, or you can do the following:

Click the Attach icon (i.e., the button that looks like a paperclip) underneath the box where you type messages.
Drill down to the file’s location, be it in OneDrive or local storage.
Select the file.
Click Open or Share.

Take note that this method might make files difficult to find, as chat threads easily become lengthy. For important files, you’ll want to add them to the Files tab of your Teams channel.

To make your files easy to find on your Teams channel, store them on the Files tab

As previously mentioned, each Teams channel is connected to a distinct SharePoint site. The Files tab of a channel acts as the access point to the main folder of the SharePoint site. Whatever file you upload to the SharePoint site will be accessible on the Files tab, and whatever file you upload to the Files tab will be accessible on the SharePoint site.

There are two main ways to store files on the Files tab:

Via the Upload a copy function of the Conversations tab

While you’re on the Conversations tab, do the following:

Click the Attach icon.
Accomplish one of the three methods below:

To pick a file you opened recently, click Recent, then Upload a copy.
To select from all the files you’re permitted access to on Teams, click Browse Teams and Channels, then Share a link or Upload a copy.
To choose a file from your private storage, click Upload from my computer or OneDrive, then Open or Upload a copy.

Via the Upload function of the Files tab

When you go to the Files tab, you’ll see subfolders (if there are any) and any shared files on the channel you’re in. To upload a file on that tab, follow these steps:

Select the location you want to put the file in. Open subfolders if you have to.
Click the Upload button.
Select File.

Before uploading your file, you may want to create a subfolder first:

On the Files tab, click New.
Select Folder.
Type the name for your new folder.
lick Create.

We’ve only scratched the surface of what you can do with Microsoft’s amazing apps. To discover more about how your business can benefit from these, talk with our IT specialists at [company_short]! Drop us a line or call us at 801-747-3200 today.

The niftiest features and benefits of Microsoft Teams Phone

Microsoft wants you to do everything on their software platforms — and this now includes making and taking phone calls, thanks to Microsoft Teams Phone. This is a powerhouse of a telecommunications solution, so let’s take a look at some of its niftiest features and benefits.

Use auto attendants, call queues, and call escalation

Let’s begin this list with features you’ve come to expect from top-notch Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions:

Auto attendant – Routes callers directly to the person or department they want to reach without having to go through a receptionist or an operator first.
Call queues – Treat callers to custom greetings and play pre-recorded messages or music while they’re on hold.
Call escalation – Easily turn a one-on-one call into a group call with video, screen sharing, and other features.

More of the usual (and not-so-usual) VoIP features can be found in this Microsoft document.

Do away with desk phones — or use feature-rich ones

Why spend extra on a fleet of desk phones when you can simply enroll internet-connected devices, such as desktop computers, laptops, and mobile phones, to Microsoft Teams Phone? If you’re just setting up your telecommunications with Microsoft Teams, you won’t necessarily need desk phones, which means savings from the get-go.

However, if for some reason your team needs to use desk phones and conference room audio devices, there are plenty that are certified to work with Microsoft Teams. Teams-certified desk phones and devices have plenty of innovative features, such as:

Authentication – For the sake of security, don’t let just anybody use your phones. Have phone agents sign in by entering their access credentials on the desk phone or other devices such as their mobile phone or PC.
Hot desking – When a user signs in to a Teams-certified phone, they gain access to their list of contacts and meetings, and their preferences would be applied on that device. Once they’re done using the phone, they can sign out so that the device would be ready for the next user.
One-touch join – This allows users to view their schedules and easily join meetings by just pressing a button.

Did you know? To enroll your telephony device to Microsoft Teams Phone, just sign in to your Microsoft Teams account on that device. It’s that easy!

Microsoft is partnering with more and more device manufacturers so that you can equip your staff with the phone they need to efficiently do their jobs, while enabling your managers to easily oversee them.

Easily monitor and enhance call quality

When problematic calls are reported, Teams’ call analytics enables admins and help desk agents to look into those specific calls to diagnose connection and call quality issues. Admins can also check the call quality dashboard to get a network-wide view of the performance of your Microsoft Teams Phone system.

Teams also has a feature called Quality of Service (QoS), which keeps calls from breaking up and video chats from freezing. This works by prioritizing the delivery of delay-sensitive network traffic such as voice calls and video conferencing streams. That is, QoS allows data packets from delay-sensitive network traffic to cut in line ahead of other data packets that can afford to be delayed, such as those from app downloads.

Easily port existing phone numbers or obtain and assign new numbers for users

If you have existing phone numbers from another service provider, simply send a letter of authorization (LOA) to Microsoft and they will handle transferring your numbers for you.

If you need new numbers for users in Utah, then using the Microsoft Teams admin center ought to be sufficient. In fact, you can pretty much rely on the admin center to get phone numbers for different countries and regions and comply with their rules and regulations.

However, for cases when you can’t get new numbers by using the admin center, or when you need to apply specific area codes or want to use vanity numbers, just send an LOA to Microsoft. They’ll take care of your request from there.

Have someone receive a call for you when you’re busy

There are times when you can’t take or make a call personally, but you don’t want to miss responding to people either, especially when they are important clients. Thankfully, Microsoft Teams Phone has the Delegate feature, which is a way for you to have a Teams member receive and make calls on your behalf.

Let NetWize help you leverage the Microsoft services that will best benefit your business. Leave us a message or call us at 801-747-3200 today.