Sharing Files Using Microsoft OneDrive Microsoft OneDrive (formerly known as SkyDrive) is a free service offered to users. The service allows users to have access to free file storage and file sharing. To use OneDrive, you must have either a Microsoft OneDrive account or an Office 365 subscription. Students wishing to purchase an Office 365 subscription can get University editions of the subscription for $79.99. For mor information about the Office 365 University subscription, visit the website located at this link: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-office-365-university-2013-FX102918415.aspx. The Office 365 subscriptions includes the ability to download and install the full version of MS Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, OneNote, Outlook, and Publisher. Both the OneDrive and Office 365 accounts come with free MS Web Apps which are Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote with reduced functionality. The web apps are generally sufficient for most activities. While instructions in this document are provided for the free version of OneDrive, students who own an Office 365 subscription are free to use it for this course if they prefer not to create a separate account. The Free OneDrive account DOES NOT include MS Access which is needed for the database portion of this course.
Create OneDrive Account or Sign In To begin, navigate to the OneDrive site (https://login.live.com/). If you have a OneDrive account, you can log in with your current username and password. If you do not have an account, use the link labeled, “Sign up now� as shown in the graphic below to create an account. Click this link and follow the on-screen instructions to create your OneDrive account. Keep your username and password for this account in a safe place where you can easily retrieve it when needed. This account can be used with an Outook.com account or with any other email account. If you create an Outlook.com account, it will include access to OneDrive.
The OneDrive User Interface Once you create your account, log in with the Outlook.com email address that comes with the account (username@outlook.com). You will see the OneDrive user interface for your account. Click the link labeled, “Get Started” to review basic information about using the services provided by OneDrive. You can also click the gray ‘x’ in the upper right-hand corner to close the Welcome panel. All users receive a default folder named, “Documents.” Folders appear as blue boxes. You should use this area to organize your files. The gray task panel also provides information and navigation that you will find useful. The menu bar has links for performing activities within OneDrive. The appearance of the bar changes according to the screen you are viewing or the item you have selected. Users get 7 GB of free space for files and images. Use the link at the bottom of the gray task panel to purchase more storage if it is needed.
Task Panel The One Drive Task panel allows users to have convenient links to Files, Recent Docs, All Photos, Shared (items shared with you and items you share with others) and groups. Students will be using these links to navigate the One Drive interface. The free version of OneDrive allows users to have 7 GB (gigabytes) of storage. This is a convenient way to save your files for the course. It allows your items to be available to you from anywhere in the world or any computer. You can either carry your laptop with you or you can use the computer labs on campus to work and access your documents. Later in this tutorial, we will discuss the creating and using of groups since you will be working together on assignments in the course as teams.
Mobile Devices OneDrive is also compatible with the iPad. At this time, I am not aware of the ability to use OneDrive with Android or Google devices. For students using the iPad, visit the App Store to download the app for your IOS device:
In addition to the app, users can download MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote) for the iPad. The applications are free and allow you to view items in your OneDrive Account. If you have purchased a subscription for Office 365, you can also use these free versions of Office for the iPad to create and edit documents in your Office 365 OneDrive folder as well as your free OneDrive folder. The apps work quite well and are a good option for students who do not have access to PC versions of Office. With the OneDrive app for iPad, you can view and edit documents in the free version of OneDrive. With the MS Office apps for iPad, you can view documents in your free OneDrive account. In order to edit the documents using the MS Office apps for iPad, you must have an Office 365 subscription. Navigating OneDrive At the top of the OneDrive window below the menu bar is the navigation area. OneDrive uses bread crumbs to facilitate user navigation. In the illustration below, you can see that I have navigated to a folder nested in my Documents folder called CITA475.
The bread crumbs are composed of the names of the folders formatted as links. The represent a trail or a path, as it were, starting with the folder used to enter the current location. Click the folder names to navigate one or more levels ore get back to where you started. Once you open a file in the folder, you can use the bread crumbs to get back to the folder where the file is stored. Also, depending on the browser, the file may open in a separate window or tab. Closing the tab closes the file and allows you to return to the folder where the file is stored.
Click this link to return to the folder.
Use bread crumbs to move about in your OneDrive folders.
Creating Documents Using OneDrive Web Apps Both the free OneDrive account and the paid-for subscription of Office 365 come with Microsoft Web Apps. Web apps have reduced functionality but are sufficient for most activities. As previously noted, the free OneDrive account does not include Microsoft Access.
To create a file in OneDrive, log into your account using either your Outlook.com email address or the email address used to create your OneDrive account. Navigate to the folder where you want to document to be stored. Using the menu bar at the top of the screen, click the option labeled, “Create.�
Using the Create option, you can create a new folder, or a file using one of the available Microsoft Web apps.
You can create a new folder to help to organize your documents, or a file with one of the available web apps. For this example, I will chose a Word document. Once you choose the type of document you wish to use, that web app will open allowing you to work in the interface for the application.
Click the default name to change the name of the document.
Once in the web app, you will see the familiar features of Microsoft Word. You will also see the features you have available to you with the web app. Type the desired text and format the document in the same way you would with the full-featured versions of that document. To rename the document, click the default name Document 1 to change the name of this file. Your file is automatically saved in OneDrive as you work so it is not necessary to click save or save as. However, it is possible to download a copy of the document to your local hard drive so that it can be submitted to a drop box to complete a homework assignment. To download the document, this can be done in a couple of ways. With the document open, click the file tab. In what was known as the Backstage view, you will have the chance to save the file to your local computer. Click the Save As option to save a copy of the file to your local computer hard drive.
In this view, click the option to download a copy to your computer. You may be prompted to allow pop ups from this site or other blocked content. It is general safe to allow this blocked content. You can allow once or click the option to Always Allow content from this site. Once you allow the blocked content, you will be given the chance to open, save, save as or cancel the download. Click the arrow next to the Save button and choose Save As so that you will get a chance to say where you want to save the file. Otherwise, it will default to your Downloads folder or whatever other location you previously defined for downloaded content.
Click the arrow next to Save to choose the location for the download.
Once you have a local copy of the file, you will be able to upload it to Vancko Hall in the appropriate drop box. Sharing and Collaboration
You are free to use the OneDrive web apps for all assignments (except Access) for this course. The one goal of using this environment is to work in your groups on team assignments. Communicate with your teammates to exchange email addresses. You will need the email addresses to create the groups and share files. Also, communicate with each other to choose a group or project leader. The project leader will create and monitor the group folders in OneDrive. Be certain to include me as the instructor in the group using the email address for my OneDrive account. My OneDrive account email address is denisep962@outlook.com. Use this email address ONLY for team assignments and not for regular course communication. Regular course communication should remain within the course. Once you have established a group leader, the leader needs to create the group in OneDrive where you will work. The group leader should log into the OneDrive account and navigate to groups.live.com.
Choose a group name.
Use this pattern for the group email Use this pattern for the group name.
Click Create group
.
Give the group a name for your team. Use the pattern shown in the example. Assign an email address to the group, again as shown in the example. In this case, the group email address is teama@groups.live.com. Click the button labeled, “Create group.� It may take a few minutes. If the group email address you chose is already taken, you will get a message stating this and you will have to choose another email address. Make sure it is something make sense to the team. Document the email address so it will be easier to send email to the group. You can also use course mail in Vancko Hall to communicate with your team. When creating the group, make sure all participants have the ability to edit the documents in the group folder.
Once the group is created, you must invite the team members. From the menu bar, choose Group actions. From the resulting menu, choose invite people.
Group shows up in under the Groups heading. Go to Group actions, and choose Invite people.
You need to enter the email addresses of the individuals you wish to invite to the group. Enter them one at a time.
Each person invited to the group will get the email message stating that they have been invited. They can click the link in the email message to view the group. Once they view the group, the recipient will see two buttons on the lower right corner giving them the option to Join or Decline. They must accept the invitation by clicking the button labeled Join. They will then see the group in their own instance of OneDrive as well as any documents shared with them. The example below shows the view for the person who has accepted the invitation to join the group.
This user has joined the group. The group shows up in their view and when the click the group name, the files shared with the group are visible. This user can now open and edit this document.
Sharing Files with the Group In the group window, it is now possible to create folders and files as you would with your personal email account. Click the Create option in the menu bar choose to create a folder, Word document, Excel file, or whatever file you intend to share with the group. Group members will be able to log into their individual OneDrive accounts, view the group and all files in the folder. They will be able to edit the document from their own account. It is also possible to send email to the group using the group email address.
Conclusion OneDrive makes it possible to collaborate on a project in a team. Consult this guide to complete activities Team Assignments for CITA475.