OneDrive for Business macOS Client Setup

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.

For more information, read Get Started with OneDrive for Business.

Important

Microsoft supports the OneDrive sync app on the three most recent major versions of macOS. When Apple releases a new major version of macOS, Microsoft supports the new version and the two versions before it. As of October 2026, the supported versions are macOS 27 Golden Gate, macOS 26 Tahoe, and macOS 15 Sequoia.

Current versions of the OneDrive app require macOS 14.4 or later and will not install on older versions of macOS.

If your Mac runs an unsupported version of macOS:

  • An existing OneDrive installation will stop receiving updates. It may continue to run, but it is no longer tested and is not recommended.
  • New installations may be blocked.
  • Bugs and issues specific to unsupported versions of macOS will not be investigated or fixed.

To check your version of macOS, select the Apple menu > About This Mac. To update, select the Apple menu > System Settings > General > Software Update.

 

What materials do I need?

  • macOS compatible device
  • A supported version of macOS (macOS 27 Golden Gate, macOS 26 Tahoe, or macOS 15 Sequoia)
  • An active University of Alaska account

 

How do I use this technology?

  1. Download the Microsoft OneDrive for Mac installer, open the downloaded OneDrive.pkg file, and follow the prompts. You can also install OneDrive from the Mac App Store.
  2. Open OneDrive from your Applications folder.
  3. On the Set up OneDrive screen, enter your University of Alaska email address (e.g. UaUsername@alaska.edu), and then select Sign in.
  4. On the University of Alaska sign-in page, enter your UA password. Complete multi-factor authentication if prompted.
  5. On the screen that shows your OneDrive folder location, select Next.
  6. Follow the remaining screens, and then select Open my OneDrive folder.
  7. If macOS asks you to allow OneDrive or enable its Finder extension, select Open System Settings and turn on OneDrive. You can also find this setting under System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions.

  8. Your OneDrive folder now appears in the Finder sidebar under Locations, with a name that includes University of Alaska. Files you see there are stored online and download when you open them. To keep a file or folder available offline, Control-click it and select Always Keep on This Device.

    The OneDrive sync app stops uploading new files when you reach your Microsoft 365 storage limit (20 GB for employees, 15 GB for emeritus, 5 GB for students). This limit covers OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint.

Need additional help or have issues

For additional assistance contact the IT Services Technical Support Center via phone at (907) 786-4646, email us at uaa.techsupport@alaska.edu.

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