OneDrive or SharePoint: where should your team’s files live?
Your office manager is away. A client calls about a proposal, and the team knows it exists, but nobody can find the current version. Someone has an email attachment. Someone else has a link that asks them to request access. The person who can sort it out is on leave.
If your business uses Microsoft 365 with OneDrive and SharePoint, a clear rule helps: keep individual working drafts in OneDrive, and put ongoing team work in an appropriate SharePoint library. A library is simply a shared collection of documents with its own access settings.
Both tools can support collaboration. The useful question is who needs to keep working with the file, including when its original author is unavailable.
What each tool is for
OneDrive for work is storage attached to an individual work account. It suits notes, early drafts and work that one person is preparing before handing it over. Files are normally private until shared, although authorised administrators can have access under your organisation’s controls. A work OneDrive account is still part of your business environment; it is different from someone’s personal Microsoft account.
SharePoint gives a team a shared home for documents. Client work, procedures and project records can live in a site whose access is managed for the appropriate group. That makes ongoing access less dependent on an individual employee’s account.
Microsoft’s guidance on choosing where to save files makes the same practical distinction: individual work belongs in OneDrive; team work belongs where the team collaborates.
You do not have to move every file into SharePoint. You do need a consistent home for the work other people rely on.
A simple guide to where files belong
| File or situation | Sensible starting place | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Notes for a proposal you are still preparing | Your work OneDrive | Move the working record when the team takes responsibility for it. |
| A proposal the team must update and deliver | The client’s SharePoint folder | The right staff can find and edit the current version. |
| Procedures used by everyone | A shared SharePoint library | Staff can read them, and the people maintaining them can edit. |
| Payroll or confidential management documents | A restricted library or site | Access is limited to the people who need it. |
| A document sent to an external collaborator | An approved shared location | Check the recipient, permissions and whether continued access is appropriate. |
Think of a small Brookvale business where the owner writes the first draft of a quote. OneDrive can suit that preparation. Once the office team needs to revise it, send it and refer back to the accepted version, a shared client folder is a more dependable home. This is an illustrative example, not a client case study.
The same principle applies across the Northern Beaches: organise the work around the people responsible for delivering it, rather than whoever happened to save the first copy.
Teams has two different file behaviours
Microsoft Teams can make this confusing because it appears to be another place to store documents.
Files uploaded to a Teams channel are stored in SharePoint. Files uploaded in a one-to-one or group chat are stored in the uploader’s OneDrive and shared with that conversation. Microsoft explains this distinction in its Teams file storage guide.
That means “we put it in Teams” does not fully answer where the file lives. A document dropped into a quick chat can still depend on someone’s OneDrive. For ongoing project work, use the agreed team location and share its link in the conversation.
Access needs to match the work
Moving documents into SharePoint does not automatically give everyone the correct access. A restricted folder should stay restricted. A new staff member may still need membership of the relevant team, and external sharing needs deliberate settings.
Give people enough access to do their jobs. Keep confidential management material separate from ordinary client work. Where practical, manage access through appropriate groups so staff changes do not leave a trail of individual sharing invitations to untangle.
Share a link to the agreed working document when people need to collaborate. Emailing separate copies makes it harder to tell which version contains the latest changes. An attachment may still suit a final document sent to a customer, but the team should know where its authoritative copy is kept.
What happens when someone leaves?
A person’s departure, blocked sign-in, removed licence and deleted account are different events. It is inaccurate to say all OneDrive files disappear 30 days after someone leaves.
Microsoft documents a default OneDrive retention period of 30 days after account deletion, with configurable settings and other retention controls affecting the process. Automatic access for a manager also depends on the configuration and the employee having an appropriate manager or secondary owner recorded. See Microsoft’s OneDrive retention and deletion guidance.
Your provider should check the actual settings and arrange a handover before account changes. Leaving the account unlicensed indefinitely is not a sound file-storage plan either; Microsoft applies separate rules to unlicensed OneDrive accounts.
For the business owner, the practical handover check is:
- Identify the active work and records the business needs to retain.
- Nominate who will receive and take responsibility for them.
- Arrange their transfer into an appropriate shared location.
- Have the recipient open important files and check access before calling the handover finished.
- Confirm retention, backup and account changes with your provider.
Existing team files in SharePoint can remain available to authorised colleagues when an employee leaves. That still requires maintained permissions and someone responsible for the site.
Syncing and recovery need their own checks
The OneDrive application can make cloud files available through File Explorer or Finder. Some files may be online only. If someone needs to work without an internet connection, make the required files available offline and check that they have downloaded before the trip.
Do not assume every Desktop folder is protected or every cloud file is backed up independently. A desktop may be included in a configured backup or OneDrive folder-protection arrangement, but that needs checking on the actual device.
Version history and recycle bins can help recover changed or deleted documents. They have settings and limits. Sync can also carry unwanted changes between devices and the cloud. Ask your provider what can be recovered, how far back it goes and whether a recent restore has been tested. Moving files into SharePoint alone does not establish a complete recovery plan.
Start with one working folder
A tidy-up does not have to begin with moving everything at once. Choose one active client or project folder and agree its destination, access and naming. Check whether existing links, file types or applications need special handling before moving it.
Test the new location with the people who use it. They should be able to find the current work and save updates without keeping a second unofficial copy. Explain what changes in their normal day, then expand the approach to the next group of files.
At Vaelis IT, we help Northern Beaches businesses make Microsoft 365 easier to work with. If shared files are scattered or staff still need you to find them, book a 15-minute IT chat to discuss a sensible starting point.
Adapted from an article supplied by The Tech Tribe / The Technology Press, used with permission. Updated with Microsoft guidance and practical examples for Vaelis IT.
