When a user is assigned an Office 365 or Microsoft 365 license, the services automatically create a personal OneDrive for Business document library. OneDrive for Business uses SharePoint Online as ServiceĪs the service administrator, one of the most important concepts to master is that OneDrive for Business is a special purpose SharePoint document library created automatically for every user in your company. If you need others involved, use a more collaborative service – Teams or SharePoint. The general guidance is if you are working on a file without others involved use OneDrive for Business. Also, in Teams, a conversation about a document is shared in a Teams channel rather than via email. Also, in Teams, any document you upload to Teams is available to the entire Team by default, whereas documents you upload to OneDrive are private by default. For example, with OneDrive, you can’t check-in and check-out a document. Teams and SharePoint are simply better for collaboration. OneDrive for Business makes it very easy to share files with others, but if you find yourself sharing lots of files, it is recommended to use Teams or SharePoint instead. The individual using the service controls their settings. With OneDrive (consumer), there is no management framework. A service administrator can control the deployment of the synchronization app, network performance, and many other settings. OneDrive for Business has company-wide administration in mind. Note: I may refer to OneDrive instead of OneDrive for Business from time to time in this article for the sake of brevity, but I always mean OneDrive for Business unless otherwise stated. To add to the mix, Microsoft often refers to OneDrive for Business as simply “OneDrive” in their documentation and even in the UI. Both look a lot alike but are managed very differently. The business version is “OneDrive for Business” and requires a subscription to Microsoft 365 or Office 365. A free version of OneDrive is available to everyone and is often called the “consumer” version. Microsoft has two different, but similar services called OneDrive, both of which offer cloud file storage for users. We will cover advice and best practices from my extensive experience working with service ideal for system admins and those actively working with it on a daily basis.

This article focuses on administration and management exclusively for OneDrive for Business.

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