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What is OneDrive?

OneDrive for Business is an integral part of Office 365 or SharePoint Server, and provides place in the cloud where you can store, share, and sync your work files. You can update and share your files from any device with OneDrive for Business. You can even work on Office documents with others at the same time.

If you’re using Office 365, you get 1 TB of space in the cloud for OneDrive for Business. If your OneDrive for Business library is hosted on a SharePoint server in your organization, your organization’s administrators determine how much storage space is available.

All files that you store in OneDrive for Business are private unless you decide to share them. You can also share files and folders with specified co-workers so you can collaborate on projects. If you’re signed-in to Office 365, you may even be able to share with partners outside of your organization, depending on what your company allows.

To get to OneDrive for Business:

  1. Sign in to Office 365 or your SharePoint site with your work or school account.
  2. At the top of the page, click the app launcher Office 365 app launcher icon, and then click OneDrive.

OneDrive for Business is provided to you through your organization’s subscription to SharePoint Online in Office 365 or through an on-premises installation of SharePoint Server.

To sync OneDrive for Business with your local computer, you’ll need the OneDrive for Business sync app which lets you synch your OneDrive for Business files to your computer. This sync app is available with Office 2013 or Office 2016, or with Office 365 subscriptions that include Office 2016 applications. If you don’t have Office, a free download of the OneDrive sync app is also available.

To sync OneDrive for Business,

sign in to Office 365 or SharePoint, select OneDrive at the top of the page, and then click Sync.

Sync link at top of the page in SP2013

To find your OneDrive for Business, do one of the following:

  • You’ll find your synchronized files in your File Explorer, under the Quick Access panel. If you’re syncing an Office 365OneDrive for Business library, your synchronized files appear in the OneDrive@organization, OneDrive – organization, or OneDrive for Business folder.
    Synced OneDrive for Business folder in File ExplorerSynced OneDrive for Business folder in File Explorer's FavoritesFavorites listing for OneDrive for Business under SP2016
  • Click the OneDrive icon OneDrive notification tray icon/button in the notification tray, and then click Open your OneDrive for Business folder.

You can also work on your files locally, saving to the OneDrive folder, and your changes will be synchronized automatically with your OneDrive for Business library when you’re online.

Microsoft offers another storage service called OneDrive. You may already be using OneDrive to store documents and other content in the cloud. This service is different from OneDrive for Business:

  • OneDrive is online personal storage that you get with either a Microsoft account or Outlook.com. Use OneDrive to save documents, photos, and other files in the cloud, share them with friends, and even collaborate on content. You’re free to decide how you want to use it.
  • OneDrive for Business is online storage intended for business purposes. Your OneDrive for Business is managed by your organization and lets you share and collaborate on work documents with co-workers. Site collection administrators in your organization control what you can do in the library.

Although you can’t connect your personal OneDrive to your Office 365 business account, you can copy or move files between them. To move files between your personal OneDrive account and OneDrive for Business follow these steps:

Copy files between personal OneDrive and OneDrive for Business

  1. Sync both versions of OneDrive to your local computer. See Sync OneDrive for Business or site libraries to your computer for more info.
  2. Open both folders on your computer, and copy or drag files from one folder to the other.
  3. Re-sync both folders with OneDrive.

NOTE:  In the header or elsewhere on your SharePoint or Office 365 site, ‘OneDrive’ appears as an abbreviation of OneDrive for Business to keep things simpler.