TECH.SESP
Utilizing Microsoft services for document collaboration is unfortunately more complex than necessary.
Microsoft provides a suite of services with both overlapping names and functionality.
Office365, Microsoft365, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, office.com, onedrive.com
SharePoint @ SESP Guidelines
In an attempt to provide some clarity, SESP has created the following guidelines.
All essential files should be stored on a SESP affiliated SharePoint site.
SESP faculty and staff should access SharePoint files either directly from the SharePoint site web portal or by adding the SharePoint site document library to the OneDrive app on their computer.
Detailed below are the four major components of the Microsoft suite and our recommendations for how to best make use of each to comply with the SESP recommended guidelines.
- Your Individual OneDrive Account
- A Northwestern SharePoint site to which you have been given access.
- The OneDrive App installed on your computer
- The OneDrive Web Portal in your browser of choice
Your Individual OneDrive Account
All Northwestern community members with a @northwestern.edu email address have an individual or "personal" OneDrive account.
This account has 5 TB of storage space (may decrease in the future) and files stored in this account are not shared to anyone else at Northwestern by default. All files and folders "owned" by your individual OneDrive account will be deleted in the event you leave the university.
You may access the files in your individual OneDrive account either through the OneDrive web portal or by having the OneDrive app installed on your computer.
You may share files or folders to other Northwestern community members or external collaborators which are owned by your OneDrive individual account, however, please keep in mind that these files and folders will be deleted in the event you are no longer associated with Northwestern. To avoid unnecessary disruptions or in the worse case the loss of important files and folders it is critical to ensure that all essential files and folders are stored on a Northwestern SharePoint site.
A Northwestern SharePoint Site
A SharePoint site can be thought of as a OneDrive account owned by the university. The files and folders stored on a SharePoint site are not owned by an individual’s NetID, they are owned by the university and will remain available to team members regardless of any personnel changes.
To access files or folders on a SharePoint site requires that the ”Data Steward” of the SharePoint has shared the site to your NetID. Once your NetID has been given permissions to the site, you can access files and folders on the SharePoint site directly from the SharePoint site’s web portal or by choosing to sync the site with the OneDrive app on your computer.
The OneDrive app
The OneDrive app, is an application installed on your computer. You login to the OneDrive app with your Northwestern NetID. Once logged in, by default OneDrive will sync all files and folders which are owned by your individual or personal OneDrive account.
In addition to your personal files. The OneDrive app can also be configured to sync files and folders from SharePoint sites which you have permission to access.
The OneDrive web portal
The OneDrive web portal is another avenue to browsing and editing files stored in either your personal OneDrive account or files and folders that have been shared to you.
SESP does not recommend utilizing the OneDrive web portal. All essential files should be stored in a SESP SharePoint site, and it is recommended to access these files either directly through the SharePoint site web portal or configuring the SharePoint site document library to sync in your OneDrive app.
All shared files at SESP should be stored on a SharePoint site. All SESP SharePoint site are available at https://nuwildcat.sharepoint.com/sites/SESP. If you have file that are not currently stored in one of SESP's SharePoint sites please open a support request and the SESP Technology group can help coordinate moving your files. Report An Issue