At Nimbus we are always striving to provide the best service to our clients and want to make sure that we are addressing any issues that are clients might be experiencing. You may be aware that we are a licensed Microsoft Partner which means we are committed to providing you with the most accurate information and training about any Microsoft products that we sell. We also want to ensure that our clients are confident in using their Microsoft products in order to help their business run efficiently.

In the first of series of blogs we will look at what exactly OneDrive is, how to get the most out of it and how to overcome some common problems that we know that our clients have encountered.

What is OneDrive?

OneDrive is online file storage you can get to from anywhere. OneDrive makes it easy to save Office documents and other files to the cloud so you can access them from any device. With OneDrive, you can share documents, photos and more without sending bulky email attachments; simply share a link with the recipient and they can access the relevant files. OneDrive provides a consistent, intuitive files experience across all your devices, including web, mobile, and desktop.

We have been asked whether OneDrive and SharePoint, another Microsoft product, just do the same thing which is not the case. The difference between OneDrive and SharePoint is that SharePoint provides the content services for all files in Microsoft 365, including files you work with in Teams, OneDrive and Outlook. SharePoint is there to help manage and protect your files and power content collaboration across Microsoft 365. We will be delving in SharePoint in another blog.

What can you do in OneDrive?

Access your files from anywhere

OneDrive lets you easily store, access and discover both your own individual work as well as shared work files in Microsoft 365  from any device that you might be working on. This includes being able to find anything that was shared or created in Teams. If you have to make edits on a project whilst offline, OneDrive will automatically sync these for you the next time you connect. With the mobile apps for Microsoft, any documents can be edited and worked on whether you are at your desktop or working on the go on your mobile.

Add files from your computer to OneDrive

You might have files that were created and saved to your PC before migrating over to OneDrive. It is easy to move all your files to OneDrive with just the click of a button. In your documents folder find the file that you would like to move to OneDrive and then just click and drag the file to your OneDrive.

Work more collaboratively

You can work with fellow colleagues in real-time on any document within the Microsoft suite of apps. When using the share function, you can ensure that only specific people get the file and you grant permission for them to edit the document alongside you or send them the document in read-only mode. Allowing others to edit in real-time saves on countless edits and emails back and forth and increases productivity.

Keep a previous version of a document while still editing 

Both SharePoint and OneDrive give you the ability to open and review previous versions of a document. This allows the user to restore a previous version or look back to see what changes have been made. If you already have the document open just click File > Info > Version History. The previous version will open in a separate window where you can either select parts of the previous version for a new document or restore the whole document to its previous state.

Sync Issues

A common problem that can occur is that OneDrive can stop syncing and then files won’t update with any changes that have been made. If you do discover that you are having trouble syncing to your OneDrive, click on the white or blue cloud that is on the far right of your taskbar or underneath the hidden icons taskbar

Select the cloud icon, this will show you if OneDrive is up to date and your most recently synced files. If you cannot see the cloud icon then OneDrive might not be running. In that case, select Start, either select or search your apps for OneDrive and select the OneDrive folder.

Open the Settings menu and you will be able to see if OneDrive is online and syncing.

If you would like any additional advice or training for your team around your OneDrive or any other Microsoft 365 products, please reach out to our IT services team here