Get Started with OneDrive for Business

Overview

UA OneDrive for Business is the University of Alaska's name for Microsoft 365 OneDrive for work or school. It is an online service for storing files, sharing them, and collaborating with other UA individuals. OneDrive for work or school, which is designed for organizations, is not the same as the personal OneDrive service Microsoft offers to individuals. For more about the differences, see Microsoft's What is OneDrive for work or school? page.

OneDrive for Business is a personal document and file storage hub. It's easy to upload, download, and share files. You can also create, view, and edit documents online with Microsoft 365 for the web, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. When you need the full set of Office features, you can open your files in the desktop apps and save them back to OneDrive.

Because OneDrive for Business is tied to your relationship with the University of Alaska, everything stored in it becomes inaccessible if you leave the university. For this reason, it's best used for your own university-related work, such as coursework, your own work files, and OneNote notebooks. Materials that departments, schools, colleges, or other groups need to keep long-term belong in a place built for collaboration, such as a network file share, a Google shared drive, Microsoft Teams, or a SharePoint Online site. Each offers different features and benefits.

How do I use this technology?

Cost

OneDrive for Business is included in the University's Microsoft campus agreement for all current UA students, staff, and faculty.

Eligibility

• UA OneDrive for Business is enabled automatically for all current UA students, staff, and faculty.
• Alumni and affiliate/sponsored accounts do not include Microsoft 365 storage.

When you leave the University of Alaska:

• Faculty and staff access to UA OneDrive for Business is disabled automatically 14 days after their employment end date.
• Student access is disabled automatically 1 year after their last active course enrollment.

Storage limits

Your Microsoft 365 storage limit depends on your role. It covers everything you store in Microsoft 365, including OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint. It is separate from your Google Workspace storage.
 

• You'll get a warning when you reach 90% of your limit.
• If you go over your limit, your files become read-only and you can't upload or sync new files until you free up space.

Store and share files

• Files you create in Microsoft 365 for the web are saved to your OneDrive automatically.
• Easily recover deleted files or restore previous versions.
• Share files with anyone across the University of Alaska system.

Access and synchronize files easily

• Access files using a web browser or the OneDrive mobile app.
• Open and save files directly from the Microsoft 365 desktop apps.
• Sync files to your computer with the OneDrive sync app, which is built into Windows and available for macOS.

Best Practices

• Keep folder and file names short.
• Keep nested folder depth to a minimum.
• Review sharing and permissions at the beginning of each semester.
• Check your storage use regularly, especially with a 5 GB student account. Delete files you no longer need and empty the Recycle bin to free up space.

Create and edit files online with Microsoft 365 for the web

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• OneNote

Getting Started

OneDrive for Business works with all major current web browsers. To open your UA OneDrive for Business, go to https://onedrive.com and sign in with your UA email address (e.g. UaUsername@alaska.edu) and password. You can also sign in at https://m365.cloud.microsoft and select OneDrive from the app bar on the left.

You can also sync your files and folders to your computer or mobile device. See the client guides below.

• Create a file: Select + Add new in the upper left, then choose the file type.
• Open a file or folder: Select its name.
• Share a file: Open the file and select Share in the upper right, or select the file in OneDrive and choose Share. Enter the names or email addresses of the people you want to share with, choose whether they Can edit or Can view, then select Send.
• Restore a previous version: Right-click the file (or select it and choose More options ( … )), then select Version history.
• Recover a deleted file: Select Recycle bin in the left-hand menu, select the file, then select Restore. Deleted files are kept for 93 days.

OneDrive for Business client guides

• Android
• iOS
• macOS
• Windows
• Web Browser

Information from Microsoft

Microsoft provides extensive online help for OneDrive. While using OneDrive on the web, select Settings (the gear icon in the upper right), then OneDrive help.

Other useful information from Microsoft:

• What is OneDrive for work or school? Describes OneDrive for work or school and the OneDrive sync app.
• Organize documents and sites in Microsoft 365 Describes how OneDrive and SharePoint fit together and how to find your files.
• What do the OneDrive icons mean?

Is there any additional information I should know about?

• Microsoft Teams
• Google Drive
• Google shared drives
• Where Should I Save Files