How to access a SharePoint site

There are a few different ways to access a SharePoint site. In most cases, we recommend using the Teams app. Read more best practices here >>

Accessing SharePoint files in Teams

Every Channel within a Team has a file library. Those file libraries are actually subfolders within the Team's SharePoint site. To find files in Teams:

1. Navigate to the desired Team, then navigate to the desired Channel. 
2. Navigate to the Files tab at the top of the screen to view files.

When to use the "Open in SharePoint" button

We don't recommend using this option unless you need to revert a file to a previous version. 

There are a few different ways to access the behind-the-scenes SharePoint site that contains a Team's files. The one we see most often stumbled upon is in the Channel's Files tab. In the menu options beneath the tab, you may see an "Open in SharePoint" button.

If you click on that button, a new browser window will open and land you in the behind-the-scenes SharePoint site. There is no real difference between what you see in SharePoint and in Teams, it's mostly visual. However, there are some additional options that can cause confusion as to where files are located and who has access to them, which is why we don't generally recommend clicking to open in SharePoint. 

One good use case for opening the SharePoint site is that you can view and restore different file versions. To do this:

1. Right-click on a file, then select Version History.
2. If you hover over the dates, you can click a dropdown arrow to either View, Restore, or Delete specific versions of the file. 

This can get tricky and messy very quickly, so if you do need to restore a version, please either contact the Help Desk for assistance or create a test document to get familiar with the version history actions.