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.

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.

Click this link to return to the

folder.

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.”

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.

Using the Create option, you can

create a new folder, or a file using

one of the available Microsoft Web

apps.

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.

Click the default name to

change the name of the

document.

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.

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

Click the arrow next to

Save to choose the

location for the download.

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.

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.

Choose a group name.

Use this pattern for

the group email

.

Use this pattern for the group name.

Click Create group

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.

You need to enter the email addresses of the individuals you wish to invite to the group. Enter them one at a time.

Group shows up in under the

Groups heading.

Go to Group actions, and choose

Invite people.

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.

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.

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.