Why You Should Use OneDrive for Business - Altaro

OneDrive for Business provides an easy way for businesses to leverage cloud storage for both on-premises and remote employees. Since files are ... Altaro DOJO Microsoft365 Collaboration WhyYouShouldUseOneDriveforBusiness PaulSchnackenburg January26,2022 SavetoMyDOJO Tableofcontents TheBasicsofOneDriveforBusinessOneDriveversusOneDriveforBusinessAdvancedFeaturesCollaborationandOneDriveforBusinessAdministrationConclusion Aspartofyourorganization’sjourneytothecloud/digitaltransformation,documentstorageiskey.MicrosoftOneDriveforBusiness(OD4B)replacesthetraditionallocal“Documents”folderandopensupaccesstoworkondocumentsfromanywhere,onanydevice,fromtheOneDriveapp,alongwithmanyothercapabilities. ThisarticlewilllookatwhatMicrosoftOneDriveforBusinessis,howitcompareswithpersonalOneDrive,howtouseOD4B,protectingyourfilesandsharingthemwithotherssecurely,andsometipsforMicrosoft365administratorsmanagingOD4Bforabusiness.Ifyou’dlikeanoverviewonhowtouseOneDriveforBusiness,I’vemadethevideobelow,whichaccompaniesthisarticle: TheBasicsofOneDriveforBusiness MicrosoftOneDriveforBusinessisSharePoint-basedcloudstoragethatyoulicenseaspartofOffice/Microsoft365thatgiveseachuser1TBofstorage(atthemostbasiclevels,unlimitedforhigher-levelplans)fortheirdocuments.YoucanaccessthesedocumentsfromanyWindowsorMaccomputer(OneDriveforMac),aswellasthroughappsforAndroidandiOS.Asanote,theclientisbuiltintoWindows10,1709,orlaterbutisalsoavailableforearlierversions.YoucanalsoaccessOneDrivestorageinanywebbrowser.Youcanquicklygettherebylogginginatwww.office.comandclickingontheOneDriveicon. OD4BinOffice.com Alternatively,youcanright-clickonthefolderinWindowsExploreronyourdesktopandselectViewonline. Right-clickonOD4BinWindowsExplorer Eitherway,youendupintheOneDriveMicrosoftwebinterfacewhereyoucancreatenewOfficedocuments,uploadfilesorfolders,syncthecontentbetweenyourmachineandthecloudstorage(seebelow),andcreateautomationflowsthroughPowerAutomate.ThroughtheMicrosoftOneDriveforBusinesswebinterface,youalsohaveaccesstothe“fileversions”functionalitytorestorepreviousversionsofyourfiles.(seebelowundertheAdvancedfeatures) OD4Bwebinterface NotethatifyouclickonanOfficefileinthewebinterface,it’llopenintheweb-basedversionofWord,givingyoutheoptionofworkingonanydevicewhereyouhaveaccesstoabrowser. Formostpeople,1TBofstorageissufficient,butmanymoderndevicesdon’tcomewiththatamountofinternalstorage,soyoumayneedtochoosewhattosynctothelocaldevice.UnderstandinghowtosyncOneDrivebetweenthecloudandlocalstorageisstraightforward. Therearetwoapproaches,youcanright-clickonafolderorfileandselectAlwayskeeponthisdevicewhichwilldoexactlythat(andtakeupspaceonyourlocalPC),orFreeupspacewhichwilldeletethelocalcopybutkeepthefilesinthecloud.Youcantellthedifferentstateswiththefilledgreentick(alwaysonthisdevice)icon,orthewhitecloud(spacefreedup).Theautomaticwayistosimplydouble-clickonafilethatyouneedtoworkon,andthefilewillbedownloaded(greentickonwhitebackground),calledAvailablelocally.ThisfeatureiscalledFilesondemand. InWindows,there’salsoahandy“popup”menutoseethestatusofOneDriveforBusiness,seewhichfileshavebeenrecentlysynced,andalsoletsyoupausesyncingtemporarily. PopupmenufromOD4Bclient Ifyou’reworkinginWord,Excel,PowerPointinbothWindowsandMaconafilestoredinMicrosoftOneDriveforBusiness(andOneDrivepersonal/SharePointOnline),it’llAutoSaveyourchangeswithoutyouhavingtosavemanually.OneDriveforBusinesswillalsobecomethedefaultsavelocationinWord,Excel,etc. Andthe“secret”isthatOneDriveforBusinessisajustapersonaldocumentlibraryinSharePointOnline,managedbytheOneDriveMicrosoftservice. Choosingsyncingoptionsforfolders OneDriveversusOneDriveforBusiness IfyousignupforafreeMicrosoftaccount,yougetthepersonalflavorofOneDrivestoragewhichprovides5GBofstorage.ThereareadditionalpaidplansworthnotingforthepersonalversionofOneDrivestorage.Theseinclude: OneDriveStandalone100GB–100GBstorageat$1.99/mo Microsoft365Personal–1TBOneDrive365storage–$69.99/yrandalsoincludesfullOfficeapplications(Outlook,Word,Excel,PowerPoint) Microsoft365Family–$99.99/yrincludes1TBofstoragefor(6)people–6TBtotal Fromanend-userpointofview,theservicesareverysimilar,butthebusinessversionaddsidentityfederation,administrativecontrol,DataLossPrevention(DLP),andeDiscovery. AdvancedFeatures OneDriveforBusinessprovidesquiteafewadvancedfeaturesthatthecasualusermightnotknowabout.Forinstance,whenyou’reattachingadocumenttoanemail,you’llhavetheoptiontoattachalinktothedocumentinyourOneDriveforBusinessinsteadofacopyofit.Ifyou’reemailingthedocumenttosomeoneinternallyinyourbusinessorsomeoneexternallythatyoucollaboratewith,thisisabetteroptionasyou’llbothstillbeworkingontheonefile(potentiallyatthesametime,seebelow)ratherthanhavingmultiplecopiesattachedtodifferentemailsandendinguphavingtomanuallyreconciletheeditsattheend. KnownFolderMoveisanotherfeaturethatyoucanenableasanadministrator.ThiswillredirecttheDesktop,Documents,Pictures,ScreenshotsandCameraRollfoldersfromauser’slocaldevicetoOneDriveforBusiness. Thishastwobenefits;firstly,ifauserlosestheirdeviceorit’sbroken,theirfileswillstillbetherewhentheyloginonanewdevice,secondly,theycanusetheirlocalDocuments,Pictures,etc.foldersastheyalwayshave. KnownFolderMovecanbecontrolledon-premisesusingGroupPolicyfromActiveDirectoryDomainServices.Inaddition,MicrosoftIntuneconfigurationprofilescanbeusedtoconfigureandcontrolKnownFolderMoveforhybridconnectedend-userclients. There’salsoversioningbuiltintoOneDriveforBusinesswhichkeepstrackofeachversionasit’ssaved,youcanaccessthiseitherinthewebinterfaceorbyright-clickingonafileinWindowsExplorer. OD4Bdocumentversions TheRecyclebininthewebUIforOneDriveforBusinesshassavedmanyanITPro’scareerwhentheCEOhasdeleted(“bymistake”–buttheysweartheyneverhitdelete)animportantfile.SimplyclickontheRecyclebinandrestorefilesthatweredeletedupto93daysago(upto30daysforOneDrivepersonal).ArelatedfeatureisOneDriveRestorethatletsyourecoveranentire(orpartsof)OneDriveforBusiness,perhapsafterallthefileshavebeenencryptedbyaransomwareattack.Italsoshowsahistogramofversionsforeachfile,makingiteasytospottheversionyouwanttorestore. UsingAI,SharePointandOneDriveforBusinesswillautomaticallyextracttextfromphotosthatyoustoresothatyoucanuseitwhensearchingforfiles,it’llalsoautomaticallyprovideatranscriptforanyaudioorvideofileyoustore.Fileinsightsletyouseewhohasviewedandeditedasharedfile(seebelow)andgetstatistics. Ifyou’reusingtheapponyoursmartphone,youcanscanthephysicalworld(awhiteboard,adocument,businesscard,orphoto)withthecameraandit’lluseAItotranscribethecapture. ScanningintheAndroidapp Recently,MicrosoftaddedanewfeaturecalledAddtoOneDrivethatletsyouaddashortcutinOneDriveforBusinesstofoldersthatothershavesharedwithyouorthataresharedwithyouinTeamsorSharePoint.SpeakingofTeams–sharingfilesintherewillnowusethesamesharinglinksfunctionalitythatOneDriveforBusinessuses(seebelow).Evenmoreusefulwillbetheforthcomingabilitytomoveafolderandkeepthesharingpermissionsyouhaveconfiguredforit,andsomefiles(CADdrawingsanyone?)theincreaseofthemaximumfilesizefrom15GBto100GBiswelcome.And,likealltheothercoolkids,OneDriveforBusiness(andOneDrivepersonal)onthewebwilladdadarkthemeoption.MoreatOneDriveforBusinesstipsandtricks CollaborationandOneDriveforBusiness OneofthepowerfulfeaturesofOneDriveforBusinessistheabilitytosharedocuments(andfolders)withinternalandexternalusers.Asyoumightexpect,administratorshavefullcontroloversharingoptions(seebelow).Butassumingit’snotturnedofforrestrictedyoucanright-clickonafileorfolderandclickthebluecloudiconShareoption,orclicktheShareoptioninthewebinterface.Thisletsyousharealinktothefileorfolderwithinternalandexternalusers,grantaccesstospecificpeople,makeitread-onlyoralloweditingandblocktheabilitytodownloadthedocument(theyhavetoedittheonline,sharedcopy). Sharingafile It’sagoodideatoturnonexternalsharingnotificationsviaemail. OnceadocumentissharedyoucanalsouseCo-authoringtoworkonthedocumentsimultaneously,bothintheweb-basedversionsofWordandExcelaswellasthedesktopversionsoftheOfficeapps.Youcanseewhichpartsofadocumentanotheruserisworkingon. SharepointvsOneDrive Asmentionedearlier,theOneDriveforBusinessserviceisbuiltontopofSharePointOnlineinfrastructure.DoesthismeanyouhaveSharePointOnlinebydefaultwithOneDriveforBusiness?No,SharePointOnlineprovidesmanymorefeaturesandfunctionalitiesoutsideoffilestorage. SharePointOnlineisabehemothproductthatcandomanythings.Traditionally,organizationshaveusedSharePointforcreatingintranetandextranetwebsitesforcollaboration.SharepointOnlinecontainsallofthefeaturesofOneDriveforBusinessfromafilestorageperspective,butmanyotherfeaturessuchascalendaring,contentmanagementfeatures,morerobustcollaboration,anddashboards,justtonameafew.Still,itrequiresaproperSharePointbackup,readmore:WhyYouShouldbeBackingupSharePointNow SharePointOnlineisamuchmorecomprehensivesolutionusedforenterpriseservicesandcollaborationcomparedtoOneDriveforBusinessthatisprimarilycenteredonfilestorage. OneDriveforBusinessAppsIntegrations Microsofthasalargeecosystemofthird-partyvendorintegrationacrosstheentireecosystemofcloudSoftware-as-a-Servicesolutions.ThereareOneDriveforBusinessappsavailabletointegratewithOneDriveforBusiness.LikeothercloudSaaSintegrations,OneDriveforBusinessappsarethird-partyapplicationsthatextendthebuilt-infunctionalityfortheMicrosoftcloudapplications. TheOneDriveforBusinessappsintegrationsincludAI+MachineLearning,analytics,collaboration,commerce,compliance&legal,customerservice,finance,productivity,projectmanagement,andmanyothers.YoucanlearnmoreaboutOneDriveforBusinessappsintegrationshere:https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/onedrive/apps-that-work-with-onedrive Administration Ifyou’retheadministratorforyourOffice365/Microsoft365deploymentyoucanaccesstheSharePointadmincenter(fromthemainMicrosoft365Admincenter)andcontrolsharingforbothOneDriveandSharePoint.ThereisalsoalinktotheOneDriveforBusinessadmincenterwhereyouhavecontroloverothersettings,includingsharingsettings. SharingSettingsinOD4BAdminCenter Themainsettingsforyoutoconsiderherearewhoyouruserscansharecontentwith.Themostpermissivesettingallowsthemtosharelinkstodocumentswithanyone,noauthenticationrequired(notrecommended).Thenextlevelupallowsyouruserstoinviteexternaluserstotheorganizationbuttheyhavetosignin(usingthesameemailaddressthatthesharinglinkwassentto),creatinganexternaluserinyourAzureActiveDirectoryandthusgivingyousomecontrol,includingtheabilitytoapplyConditionalAccesstotheiraccess.Ifyouonlyallowsharingwithexistingexternalusers,youmusthaveanotherprocessinplaceforhowtoinviteexternalusers.Andthemostrestrictiveistoonlyallowsharingwithinternalusers,blockingexternalsharing.Don’tbefooledbytheseslidershowever,ifyousetthistoorestrictiveandusersneedtosharedocumentsexternally,theywilldosousingpersonalemail,othercloudstoragesolutions,etc.TheywilljustnotbeusingOneDriveforBusinesssharinglinkswhichatleastallowsyouvisibilityinauditlogsandreports,alongwithsomecontrol. Undertheadvancedsettingsforthelinksyoucanconfigurelinkexpiryindays,prohibitinglinksthatlast“forever”.Youcanalsolimitlinkstobeviewonly.Theadvancedsettingsforsharingletyoublackorwhitelistparticulardomainsforsharing,preventingfurthersharing(anexternalusersharingwithanotherexternaluser)andlettingownersseewhoisviewingtheirfiles. UnderSyncyoucanlimitsyncingtodomain-joinedcomputersandblockspecificfiletypes.StorageletsyoulimitthestoragequotaandsetthenumberofdaysthatOneDriveforBusinesscontentiskeptafterauseraccountisdeleted.DeviceaccessletsyoulimitaccessbasedonIPaddressaswellassetsomerestrictionsforthemobileapps,whereastheCompliancebladehaslinkstoDLP,Retention,eDiscovery,Alerts,andAuditing,allofwhicharegenericOffice365features.Thenextblade,Notifications,controlsemailnotificationsforsharingandthelastblade,whileDatamigrationisalinktoanarticlewithtoolsformigratingtoOneDriveforBusinessfromon-premisesstorage. Ifyou’reconsideringOneDriveforBusiness,therearehandydeploymentandadministrationguidesforadministrators,bothforEnterprisesandSmallbusinesses.If,ontheotherhand,yourbusinessisdefiniteaboutkeeping“stuff”on-premisesyoucanuseOneDrivewithSharePointserver,including2019. NotethatarecentannouncementmeansthattheOneDriveforBusinessadmincenterfunctionalitywillmoveintotheSharePointOnlineadmincenter,buttheabovefunctionalitywillstayintact,justnotinaseparateportal. OneDriveforBusinesssyncissuetroubleshooting TherearetimeswhenusersmayexperienceaOneDriveforBusinesssyncissue.ThefollowingareafewbasictroubleshootingstepstotroubleshootOneDriveforBusinesssyncproblems.Theseinclude: MakesureOneDriveforBusinessisupdatedtothelatestversionontheclient–YoucanchecktheversionofOneDriveforBusinessbyright-clickingtheiconinthesystemtray. Reboot–OftensynchronizationissuesorerrorscanberesolvedwithasimplerebootofaworkstationifOneDriveforBusinessisexperiencingerrors Resolveconflicts–Iffilesareinconflictduetoissuessavingormergingtheconflicts,youmayneedto“saveacopy”toOneDriveinsteadofmergingchanges. ClearcachedfilesintheMicrosoftUploadCenter–ClearingcachedcopiesintheMicrosoftUploadCentercanhelpresolveissuesuploadingandsynchronizing Stopandresyncthelibraries–Ifmultiplefilesareinerror,stoppingandresyncingthelibrariescanbeeffective. Resolvecredentialissues–IncorrectusercredentialscancauseOneDriveforBusinesssyncissues RepairOneDriveforBusinessoruninstall/reinstall–Ifallelsefails,repairoruninstall/reinstallOneDriveforBusiness. MicrosofthasadetailedKBonthesubjectoftroubleshootingOneDriveforBusinesssyncproblemshere. HowtodisableOneDriveforBusiness SomeorganizationsmaywanttodisableOneDriveiftheyuseanothercloudstoragesolution.Thiscanhelppreventend-userconfusionastowherefilesarelocated.InWindows10&11,theMicrosoftOneDriveappisautomaticallyinstalled. However,theMicrosoftOneDriveappcanbetotallyremovedfromWindows10&11usingtheSettings>Apps&Featuresutility. UninstallingMicrosoftOneDrivefromaWindows10workstation Onceremoved,theMicrosoftOneDrivesystemtrayiconandprogramentrywillbegonewithoutthepossibilityofusersaccessing,configuring,signingin,etc. ToproperlyprotectyourHyper-Vvirtualmachines,useAltaroVMBackuptosecurelybackupandreplicateyourvirtualmachines.WeworkhardperpetuallytogiveourcustomersconfidenceintheirHyper-Vbackupstrategy.   TokeepuptodatewiththelatestHyper-Vbestpractices,becomeamemberoftheHyper-VDOJOnow(it’sfree). Conclusion There’snodoubtthatcloudstorageisacornerstoneofsuccessfuldigitaltransformationandifyou’realreadyusingOffice365,OneDriveforBusinessisdefinitelythebestoption. Wasthishelpful? Yes No Itwasn’taccurate Itwasn’tclear Itwasn’trelevant Providefeedbackaboutthisarticle DoyouwanttobecomeamemberofAltaroDojo? Sharethispost Providefeedbackaboutthisarticle. × Description Pleaseincludeafulldescriptionofhowtoreplicatetheproblemyouareexperiencing.Thismaybethestepstoreplicate,orthedatathatcausedtheproblem.. Name Emailaddress Submit Yourfeedbackissuccessfullyrecorded. Someproblemoccuredsendingyourfeedback NotaDOJOMemberyet? JointhousandsofotherITprosandreceiveaweeklyroundupemailwiththelatestcontent&updates! JOINNOW,IT’SFREE! FrequentlyAskedQuestions WhatisOneDriveforBusiness? MicrosoftOneDriveforBusinessisaSharePoint-basedcloudstoragesolutionthatyoulicenseaspartofOffice/Microsoft365thatgiveseachusercloudstoragewithlimitsbasedonthesubscriptionlevelorplan WhatisthedifferencebetweenOneDriveandOneDriveforBusiness? OneDriveistheconsumer/personalofferingfromMicrosofttoprovidecloudstorageforindividualsorfamilieswhileOneDriveforBusinessisthecommercialofferingforbusinesseswithadditionalenterprisefeatures HowdoyougetOneDriveforBusiness? OneDriveforBusinessisofferedaspartofMicrosoftcloudSoftware-as-a-Servicesubscriptions,includingOffice365andMicrosoft365.StoragelimitationsarebasedonthecloudSaaSsubscriptionlevel WhatarethebenefitsofOneDriveforbusiness? OneDriveforBusinessprovidesaneasywayforbusinessestoleveragecloudstorageforbothon-premisesandremoteemployees.Sincefilesarestoredinthecloud,iteliminatesthechallengeofwheredataislocated.AnydeviceconnectedtotheOneDriveforBusinessaccountisabletoaccessthedata.ItalsoprovidesawaytoselectivelysynchronizefilesfromthecloudtolocalstoragewithFilesonDemand.Inthisway,filesthatarerarelyaccessedremaininthecloudandonlythefilesneededaresynchronizedlocally.Itprovidesthebenefitofbuilt-incollaborationfeatures,ransomwareprotectionwithfileversioning,arecyclebin,andtheabilitytotakeadvantageofOneDriveforBusinessappsforthird-partyappintegrationsandextensibility. DoIneedOneDriveforbusiness? Inthenewnormalofthehybridworkforce,cloudstorageisbecomingmoreimportantthaneverbeforeasitprovidestheflexibilityandcollaborationneededwiththeremoteworkforce.UsingmoderntoolsandsolutionsincludingsolutionslikeOneDriveforBusinessallowsorganizationstoempowerend-userswiththeresourcesneededtocarryoutbusinessproductivitywithoutissue,nomatterwheretheyarelocated. Leaveacomment CancelreplyYouremailaddresswillnotbepublished.Requiredfieldsaremarked*Comment*Name* Email* Savemyname,email,andwebsiteinthisbrowserforthenexttimeIcomment. Moreinthiscategory OneDriveforBusiness:TipsandTricksforHigh-PerformingAdmins HowtoUseMicrosoftBookingstoStreamlineAdminOperations Morefromthisauthor UsethisIdentityChecklisttosecureyourM365tenant DeepDiveonM365Defender TheRealCostofMicrosoft365Revealed AbouttheAuthor PaulSchnackenburg PaulSchnackenburgstartedinITwhenDOSand286processorswerethecuttingedge.HerunsExpertI.. 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