The Ultimate Quick Guide on using OneDrive and Teams

Here are some fast tips for using OneDrive and Teams. 

Contents

• When to use OneDrive vs. Teams?
• Clicking Teams files opens them in Teams... how do I open them in the desktop app?
• Too many notifications!
• Additional Guides

When to use OneDrive vs. Teams?

You can think of OneDrive as a temporary workspace, and you can think of Teams as a long-term library. 

Save personal files and temporary working drafts to OneDrive. You can share OneDrive files with others, but once you create a long-lasting, permanent, finished document... that document should be moved to Teams for long-term storage. If it lives in your OneDrive and you leave the organization, it will likely be lost in the sands of time. 

Save long-term, department or team-oriented files in the appropriate Team. Everyone who is a member of the Team will have access to those documents. If you leave the organization, that those files will still be there. If additional people get added to the Team, they'll gain access to the documents. 

Here's a slightly more in-depth look: Understanding the differences between Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive 

Clicking Teams files opens them in Teams... how do I open them in the desktop app?

1. Navigate to any Word or Excel file in Teams, hover over it, and click the "..." ellipses icon.
   
   
   
2. In the menu that pops up, hover over Open and then select Change default.
   
   
   
3. Select the Desktop app option and then click Save.
   

Too many notifications!

It can be overwhelming, but there are some custom options that may work better for how you work. 

1. Navigate to your Settings in Teams by clicking the "..." ellipses icon next to your profile icon at the top right (depending on your Teams version, you may need to click your profile icon). Then click Settings.
   
   
   
2. Navigate to Notifications on the left. Play around with these settings and see what works best for you.

Example:

If you're someone who doesn't want any notification pop-ups (except when a meeting has started) and just want to see the Teams icon in the taskbar light up when there's a notification, like so:

Then you can adjust your settings like so:

• Missed activity emails: Off
• Notification style: Teams built-in
• Show message preview: Off
• Chat
  • @mentions: Only show in feed
  • @Everyone: Only show in feed
  • Messages: Off
  • Likes and reactions: Off
• Meetings and Calls
  • Mute notifications during meetings and calls: On
  • Meeting started notification: Banner
  • Meeting chat notifications: Unmute
• Other: Off

Additional Guides

• If you're having trouble uploading files to Teams, see this guide: How do I upload files to Teams? - The most important items are to watch out for the size of the files/folders you're uploading. You may want to break them up into smaller batches, especially if you're uploading over WiFi. 
  
  
• If the files you want to share are too large to send via email, you can upload the files to a OneDrive folder, then share that folder. More details here: Creating a Folder in OneDrive to Share with Guests
  
  
• If you or an external party are having issues access Teams, OneDrive, or SharePoint files, please see this guide: How do I open a OneDrive or SharePoint link shared with me?
  
  
• Having audio issues? See this guide: Configuring your audio and video for Microsoft Teams