Share files with internal and external users with OneDrive
With the cutover to Microsoft OneDrive for personal file storage many new possibilities became available. While they have been unexploited so far, Vollers GIT would like to introduce those features to you now.
Microsofts OneDrive is a personal cloud storage which we employ as a part of our Microsoft Office subscription for every user at the Vollers group. For every user a large personal file storage is available as part of this system. Currently your personal files like your Desktop, Documents or Pictures libraries in Windows and Citrix are stored into this. You can create your own folders which many of you have done already.
OneDrive offers some great features to both:
share files with internal and external persons and collaborate with internal and external persons in Office files like Word documents or Excel sheets
Share Files
You can access your OneDrive folder from various locations:
From the task bar by clicking the small cloud icon and chose open folder:
or directly via Windows explorer:
As this is a cloud based service you can also open the folder via a browser, to access it from basically anywhere. For this introduction the Windows explorer will be used to show you the special features inside the OneDrive folder.
When you right click a file or folder in your OneDrive folder the context menu has some additions compared to the usual menu you see within Windows or Citrix:
the menu within your OneDrive folder
Share ("Teilen" in the german screenshot) give you the option to share this file or folder with other persons which is one of the most useful features. You can not only share Office documents but also large files that can not be send via mail and for which you had to use third party applications like DropBox or WeTransfer previously. Those applications are not allowed at Vollers Group so this gives you a straight and integrated option.
To share a file or folder you click on the previosly mentioned point in the menu. A new Window opens:
By default a link to the file is created and you can enter one or more mail adresses and click "send" to allow those persons to open and edit the file or folder. You can also copy the link manually or to Outlook in order to send it from there. By clicking "Anyone with the link can edit" you can also configure different permissions, for example that the files can not be edited or a timeout after which the link gets invalid.
When you entered the mail adress(es) and click send a system generated mail will be sent to the recipients with a link which can be opened to access the file.
Collaborate with others
To collaborate with others within Office files you share them like shown above. Now you and all persons you shared the file(s) with can work in exactly the same file.