How do you... Access files in MS Cloud storage

[jmak]

We have most of our files in Microsoft Cloud storage of one form or another. We're using Windows 10 1803 and have files on demand set up. I've provided training on how to choose files to synchronise, but some users are struggling. The main interface we have set up is Teams and in secret I'd have to agree with users - I think it's a bit rubbish. Most of the facilities are irrelevant to the way we work - users just want to access the files as directly as possible.

 

My query is what do other people have set up? I'm looking at making a custom web page with links to the document folders in SharePoint, but wondered if anyone had any better ideas....

[Katy]

We're currently working through this to decide the best way for the staff, as we're moving all our file storage into OneDrive/Teams/Sharepoint.

 

You can have it sync in Explorer (I think it works the same as files on demand, i.e. doesn't download EVERYTHING onto the C drive) as below:

 

 

There is a GPO setting to do this but last time I checked it didn't work and was "coming soon" - I've got those to appear by clicking "Sync" on each sharepoint library.

[jmak]

That's how we're doing it, but it's proving inconvenient for staff. Once they're synchronised it's ok, but they don't do it often enough for it to become familiar and they don't follow them across different machines.

 

It really needs a GPO to "map" the SharePoint library to Explorer; users really want the same experience they're used to with network shares.

[Katy]

That's how we're doing it, but it's proving inconvenient for staff. Once they're synchronised it's ok, but they don't do it often enough for it to become familiar and they don't follow them across different machines.

 

It really needs a GPO to "map" the SharePoint library to Explorer; users really want the same experience they're used to with network shares.

 

It's part of the OneDrive GPO although last time I read up on it they said the GPO to do this was "coming soon". Not sure how soon that was (think the setting existed it just didn't work)

[Katy]

One thing I need to test is what happens if they save something into a folder within explorer (either sharepoint or onedrive) then log off straight away... does it upload in the background once they have logged off, or does their work never make it to the cloud storage and is lost (unless they log back onto the same machine before the profile's wiped)

[jmak]

Our staff mostly use the same few machines (and never log off - see annoying things thread). Do you mean when a user moves something from local storage to SharePoint? I presume that if it's a file you're working on, the program would finish saving before it closed. I'll try and test, but I think you'd need some pretty major document changes for it to not keep up with an edit. It would be interesting to know how often incremental changes are saved to the online copy when you're working on a local file.

[Katy]

I was thinking things like, pupil plugs in camera in art and copies 100MB of jpegs into the onedrive folder then logs off. Comes back next lesson onto a different PC to find they never synced. Will try it tomorrow if I remember.

[Michael]

I have to agree with all your comments, as I've come to similar conclusions.

 

OneDrive doesn't map to a drive letter without using the likes of Powershell, network shortcut or a third party utility, which in the context of Education makes less sense given most of us are using the free version of O365.

 

Google Drive or more to the point Google File Stream does map a G:\ drive as standard with My Drive and Team Drives neatly presented. Google have done an excellent job with File Stream.

 

I think other advantages are that File Stream works over multiple Operating Systems, rather than being restricted to using the latest version of Windows 10 for example, as is the case of OneDrive Files on Demand - File Stream essentially is the same thing.

 

In regards to uploading files/folders, both systems have the same issues and it very much depends on your connectivity speeds, as well as the volume of data you're uploading.