Office 365: OneDrive for Business

Powerful, secure, cloud-based storage for Plymouth University staff and students
Office 365: OneDrive for Business

What is OneDrive for Business?

OneDrive for Business is a cloud storage service that allows you to store, edit, share and collaborate on your files and documents. It is a fully integrated part of Office 365, which means you can access, edit, and save your Office files all without having to download them to your computer. OneDrive for Business lets you share and collaborate on work with students and staff,  people external to the University, simply and securely.

Download staff and student step by step training guide

Staff training course

For more details and to book a place see the Introduction to OneDrive for Business course page.

Office 365: OneDrive sync client

The best tool to manage files and folders from your Windows or Mac computer.

Access and manage your OneDrive files quickly and easily on your computer using the next-generation sync client.

Read more about the OneDrive sync client

Where would I use it? Scenarios at University of Plymouth

I am an academic who often works on documents both at home and at work, and collaboratively with colleagues both within PU and at other institutes. I prefer to have a single up-to-date copy of each file rather than various copies spread around in my email, network drive, pen drives and my laptop hard drive.

With OneDrive for Business, you can manage all your files in one place, access them from almost any internet-enabled device and control who can see and edit them. You can even see previous versions and track changes made by different contributors.



I am a University student who is working on a group assignment with fellow students

I can create a Word document using Office Online and share it with the other students in my group. We can work collaboratively together on the document and see comments and updates.  It also allows us to work on the document in real time and see each others edits as they happen. If we need to discuss any updates and changes we can start a Skype for Business instant messaging conversation from within the document.

What features does OneDrive for Business have?

OneDrive for Business is a fully supported storage solution which removes the need to have personal Google Drive or Dropbox accounts for your  files. OneDrive can be integrated with your computer as a sync folder so that files appear just as with any other folder, and you can open and edit files stored in OneDrive directly from your Office suite programmes.

  • Large Capacity - Store files of up to 10Gb in size, to a total storage capacity of 1Tb.
  • Accessible - Apps are available for iOS, Android and Windows devices to allow you to view and manage your files.
  • Versioning - View, download or restore a previous version of your Office files.
  • Integration with Office - automatically open and save files to your OneDrive straight from Office.

How do I use it?

OneDrive for Business can be accessed directly from your browser at onedrive.plymouth.ac.uk, and files can be saved to OneDrive for Business from Office 2016 programs. 

You can also access it from the University portal portal.plymouth.ac.uk by clicking on the OneDrive tile.

You can also install the OneDrive sync client to help manage your files directly from your computer.

With the free mobile apps, you can access your files through nearly any connected device, such as smartphones and tablets.

On University staff computers you can install the desktop sync client from Software Centre (PC) or the App Store (Mac).

Benefits

Your files are available from nearly anywhere. You can manage your files from any computer with the internet, and grant access to colleagues and even associates at other institutes, to view and edit files with you.

OneDrive for Business is an enterprise service from Microsoft, so they protect any data we entrust with them. You use your Plymouth University login to access OneDrive for Business, rather than your own google or dropbox one. All data is stored in European servers and is subject to EU data security laws and regulations, such as EU Safe Harbour and EU Model Clauses.

Read more about Compliance. (The University has an Education E1 licence)

Limitations

When naming your Files and Folders, we recommend no more than 170 characters from the start of your first Folder to the end of the final Filename.  We also recommend not including any spaces in your File or Folder names as these take up unnecessary characters.

There are also a number of special characters that cannot be used in Filenames and Folders.


Office 365: Information management good practice

Help and guidance on naming, organising and storing your files

Online help and guidance

Further information


Read more...