Any OneDrive experts ?

[double_barrel]

It seems I don't understand how MS onedrive is meant to work!

I have a onedrive account with 1Tb of space provided by my employer. I understand that onedrive is intended to provide synchronisation between a directory on one physical computer and cloud-based copies - for the purpose of backup and sharing. However, I actually want to use it simply as cloud based storage, accessible from multiple machines. I want to be able to dump files onto a file structure on my OneDrive that bears little or no resemblance to the file structure on any computer. I have several computers (mac and windows) and I am seeing very odd behaviour when I look at the same onedrive from different machines - some files seem visible on one machine but not another, some seem visible on the cloud.com version of the drive and others are not. I assume this is because I don't really understand what I am doing when I save a file to OneDrive, or drag it in from a directory. Is it possible to use OneDrive as cloud-based storage that is effectively unlinked to any machine ? I can see potential for real disaster if I am not actually asking it to do what I think I'm asking it to do!

If it helps, I also use Mac's iCloud drive and that behaves exactly as I would expect and want.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[Torquetalk]

If your employer is the account provider, just stick to the company file structure. Don‘t use it as a personal storage system as you risk losing everything you store.

Onedrive can be accessed via device clients (best) or a web browser (if really necessary), MS or IOS OSs work with it. I much prefer it to IOS for file navigation.

[netstruggler]

It seems I don't understand how MS onedrive is meant to work!

I understand that onedrive is intended to provide synchronisation between a directory on one physical computer and cloud-based copies - for the purpose of backup and sharing.

At my employer at least OneDrive is intended to be used as an alternative to the physical drive and there is no local copy of any files. If you need a local copy you have to download it, from which point it will no longer be synchronised to the cloud version. Backups are handled transparently by the cloud provider.

[Specaircrew]

Onedrive is cloud storage that provides synchronisation between the onedrive directory on your PC and a cloud based copy. It's accessible from any device that you log into your Microsoft account on, it's not linked to a specific machine. You can specify whether everything in the onedrive folder is physically stored on your PC as well as being duplicated in the cloud or, to save hard drive space, have the files only stored in the cloud and synchronised with your device when you want to open them.

Although Onedrive is a Microsoft thing it works just fine with Apple devices in the same way that Dropbox etc does. If you're getting problems I suggest you take a look at your Onedrive settings.

[cavuman1]

I have been delighted to come into an invaluable possession: my great-grandfather's manuscript of his life in the late 1870's in Dallas, Texas, and Atoka Indian Territory, now the U.S. State of Oklahoma. The document is nearly seventy pages in length and details the lives of several family members who were true pioneers. It might be the script of a major Hollywood blockbuster should Westerns remain in style.

My dear Bride is busy typing this treatise and I would very much like to share the completed document with family and close friends on the near future. (O.K. - PPRuNe brethren as well!)

What suggestions might any of you have of the best methodology to make it so? I have accounts with OneDrive and DropBox.

You have my sincere thanks in advance!

- Ed (Great Grandson of an Irish Immigrant who helped tame the West.)

[Jhieminga]

With DropBox you can drop a document, or more than one document, into a folder and then share a link to that folder with several people. They will all be able to access that folder, access the documents in there and edit/add as well. I suspect you can do the same thing with OneDrive, I just haven't tried that.
If you also want to share this online I would not publish the link itself, but you can invite people to contact you and share that link through DM or e-mail.

[HowardB]

I suggest you also look at Google Drive, assuming you have a google account (eg Gmail). Its free and allow you to publicly share links, but depending on the settings, the default sharing option requires you to approve each download.

[cavuman1]

Jhieminga and HowardB: your advice is deeply appreciated! Thank you.

- Ed

[Specaircrew]

With DropBox you can drop a document, or more than one document, into a folder and then share a link to that folder with several people. They will all be able to access that folder, access the documents in there and edit/add as well. I suspect you can do the same thing with OneDrive, I just haven't tried that.
If you also want to share this online I would not publish the link itself, but you can invite people to contact you and share that link through DM or e-mail.

Yes you can do the same with Onedrive, best to give people a 'read only' link unless you want them editing the original.