Online Resources to Discover and Learn about Office 365
OneDrive or SharePoint? Making the Right Choice for Your Files in Microsoft 365
As organisations adopt Microsoft 365, one of the earliest questions people ask is:
“Should I save my documents to OneDrive for Business or a SharePoint Team site?”
With so many tools built for storage, sharing, and collaboration, it can be tempting to save everything in one place. But choosing the right location from the outset can make your work easier, faster, and more secure.
In this post, we’ll break down the strengths of each service and help you decide which option fits your needs.
When to Save Files to OneDrive for Business
Think of OneDrive for Business as your personal, cloud-based working space. It’s designed for documents that belong to you as an individual — at least to start with.Use OneDrive when:
- You need a central place to store your files and access them from any device or location.
- You don’t plan to share the document, or only need to share it occasionally or for a limited time.
- No existing team or project site applies to the content you’re creating.
- A file is personal now but may become team‑relevant later (you can easily move it to SharePoint when needed).
In short, OneDrive is your “My Documents” in the cloud — private by default, convenient, and flexible.
When to Save Files to a SharePoint Team Site
If OneDrive is your personal workspace, then SharePoint Team Sites are your team’s shared office.Use a SharePoint Team Site when:
- The content is meant for collaboration with a team or department.
- Multiple people will be working on files together, often simultaneously.
- You want:
- Shared ownership of files
- Better control of permissions through group access, not individual sharing
- Built‑in workflows to assign or review content
- Two-way communication, versioning, and governance
If your work involves multiple colleagues — even just occasionally — SharePoint provides the structure and tools to keep everything consistent and organised.
When a File Should Move From OneDrive to SharePoint
It’s common for a project to begin with notes or a draft created in OneDrive. But as soon as others need access, edits, or ongoing involvement, that’s when to move the file to a SharePoint Team Site. This shift ensures:
- The right people have access
- Permissions are managed centrally
- Collaboration features (such as co-authoring) work at their best
Skype for Business Online: Communication for the Workplace
Although Microsoft Teams has become the dominant communication app, Skype for Business Online has historically offered powerful enterprise capabilities beyond the consumer version of Skype. Key features included:
- Instant messaging (IM)
- Voice over IP (VoIP)
- Video conferencing
- Real-time screen sharing (1:1 or group meetings)
- File sharing
- Presence indicators in applications like Outlook
- Real-time collaboration indicators (e.g., seeing who is editing a shared document)
- Integration with audio conference bridges for phone or headset access to meetings
These enterprise-grade tools set the foundation for what Microsoft Teams now expands on today.
Helpful links:
https://support.office.com/en-gb/skype-for-business
https://www.skype.com/en/business/
OneNote: Your Digital Notebook for Work and Life
Microsoft OneNote is a powerful, flexible digital notebook that syncs across all your devices — making it easy to capture ideas whenever they hit.
What OneNote lets you do:
- Type, handwrite, sketch, or record audio notes
- Insert photos, screenshots, or files
- Organise content in Notebooks → Sections → Pages
- Sync instantly across phone, tablet, and desktop
- Share notebooks for real-time collaboration
- Tag items for follow‑up and sync them into Outlook Tasks
- Send content directly from other Office apps to OneNote
For new users, OneNote automatically includes a OneNote Guide notebook filled with tips, examples, and best practices to help you get started.
Useful links:
support.office.com/en-gb/article/Introducing-OneNote-38be036d-5b5a-49ad-83be-292fe53ad7b3
www.onenote.comhttps://support.office.com/en-gb/onenote
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