Sync Files From a Microsoft Team to My Desktop

Body

Overview

You can sync files from a Microsoft Teams to a folder on your computer where you can work directly in the Mac Finder, or Windows File Explorer to access the files even when you're offline. Whenever you're online, any changes that you or others make will sync automatically.

 

In this article

 

How do I use this technology

 

Note
Before proceeding with the following steps make sure you have configured the OneDrive client for your personal OneDrive for Business directory first. If you have not done this, or are not sure, please review the Get Started with OneDrive for Business article.

 

Initial Setup

Note: You will only need to do the following steps once per device, per Team to setup syncing on that device. After you setup syncing, the files sync automatically.

 

macOS Sync Setup

  1. Open Microsoft Teams.
  2. Select the desired Team.
  3. Select the desired Channel. We typically recommend selecting the General channel to begin with as this makes it easier to add, or remove other channels later as desired.
  4. Click the Files tab.

    Microsoft Teams General channel Files tab highlighted
     
  5. Pick any file and click the Show actions button.

    Microsoft Teams General channel files show actions button highlighted
     
  6. Click Open in SharePoint.

    Microsoft Teams Files tab show actions menu open in Sharepoint option highlighted
     
  7. Your default web browser will open and the Team's SharePoint site will appear. You may be prompted to sign in to Office 365.

    Microsoft SharePoint site documents folder
     
  8. On the left side click Documents which will take you to the root documents folder for the team.

    Microsoft SharePoint site documents link highlighted
     
  9. Click the Sync button.

    Microsoft SharePoint document sync button highlighted
     
  10. If your browser requests permission to use "Microsoft OneDrive," confirm that this is okay by clicking Allow.

    Microsoft SharePoint Online allow page to open OneDrive
     
  11. The files will sync to a folder on your Mac computer named University of Alaska in your home directory (e.g. Macintosh HD/Users/Username/University of Alaska)

    SharePoint site in Mac Finder

To sync the files on another computer, go to that computer and follow these steps again.

 

Windows Sync Setup

  1. Open Microsoft Teams.
  2. Select the desired Team.
  3. Select the desired Channel. We typically recommend selecting the General channel to begin with as this makes it easier to add, or remove other channels later as desired.
  4. Click the Files tab.

    Microsoft Teams General channel Files tab highlighted
     
  5. Pick any file and click the Show actions button.

    Microsoft Teams General channel files show actions button highlighted
     
  6. Click Open in SharePoint.

    Microsoft Teams Files tab show actions menu open in Sharepoint option highlighted
     
  7. Your default web browser will open and the Team's SharePoint site will appear. You may be prompted to sign in to Office 365.

    Note: If your default browser is something other than Microsoft Edge, and you encounter difficulties completing the following steps we recommend copying the URL from the address bar of the browser, open Microsoft Edge, paste the URL, and then proceed with the following steps.
     
  8. Click the Sync button.

    SharePoint Online Sync button
     
  9. If your browser requests permission to use Microsoft OneDrive, confirm that this is okay by clicking Yes.

    SharePoint Online Allow OneDrive client sync dialog
     
  10. The files will sync to a folder on your Windows computer named University of Alaska in your profile (e.g. C:\Users\Username\University of Alaska). This folder is automatically added to the left pane in the File Explorer.

    SharePoint site in Windows File Explorer

To sync the files on another computer, go to that computer and follow these steps again.

 

Is there any additional information I should know about?

For additional assistance contact the IT Services Technical Support Center via phone at (907) 786-4646, toll-free at (877) 633-3888, email us at uaa.techsupport@alaska.edu.

Details

Details

Article ID: 150
Created
Thu 5/28/20 2:40 PM
Modified
Mon 8/15/22 6:24 PM

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