OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams at CU Boulder
Microsoft 365 includes several connected tools for storing, sharing, and collaborating on files: OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. Each tool has a different purpose, and choosing the right one helps keep files easier to find, easier to manage and accessible to the right people over time. A simple way to think about it is:
- OneDrive is for your individual work files.
- Teams is for active collaboration with a group.
- SharePoint is for shared, long-term departmental, unit or organizational resources.
Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive are integrated tools that work together for document storage, collaboration, sharing and conversations, rather than as separate tools that should be used interchangeably. The tools are designed to facilitate easy movement of files across the storage platforms.
Storage decision guide
| If you're working on | Use | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| A file that is mainly for you | OneDrive | Best for personal work files, individual drafts and files you may share with specific people. Learn more about our recommendations. |
| A document that a project team, committee or working group is actively discussing or editing | Teams | Best when files are connected to chat, meetings, channels and ongoing collaboration. Learn more about our recommendations. |
| Departmental documents, procedures, templates, forms or resources that need to be available over time | SharePoint | Best for shared ownership, long-term access, structured permissions and organizational knowledge. Learn more about our recommendations. |
| A final version of a document that others will need to reference later | SharePoint | Best for durable shared resources and content that should not depend on one person’s account. Learn more about our recommendations. |
Use OneDrive when the file belongs to you
OneDrive is your individual file storage space in Microsoft 365. It is a good place to store work files that are private to you, still in progress or only need to be shared with a small number of specific people.
OneDrive is best for:
- Personal work files.
- Drafts not ready for broader review.
- Individual notes, planning documents or reference files.
- Files you want to access across devices.
- Short-term collaboration with one or a few people.
- Files that are still personally managed by you.
- Microsoft describes OneDrive as ideal for storing and syncing personal work or school files in the cloud, accessing them from anywhere and sharing work-in-progress files with specific individuals.
Avoid using OneDrive for:
- Department-wide files.
- Shared office resources.
- Official procedures, templates or forms.
- Files that must remain available if you change roles or leave CU Boulder.
- Documents that many people need to find and use over time.
- OneDrive files are owned by an individual user, so OneDrive should not be treated as a shared departmental drive or long-term repository for unit business records.
Use Teams when a group is actively working together
Microsoft Teams is best for active collaboration. Teams brings together chat, meetings, channels and shared files in one workspace, making it useful for committees, project teams, working groups and departments that need to communicate and collaborate regularly.
Teams is best for:
- Projects, Committees or working groups.
- Department collaboration spaces.
- Meeting-related files.
- Files that are actively being reviewed or co-authored.
- Work that benefits from chat, meetings and files being in one place.
- Microsoft describes Teams as a project-oriented collaboration space where team members can communicate, meet and work together on files where the work is happening.
Avoid using Teams as the primary location for:
- Campuswide reference materials.
- Final official documents that need broad, long-term access.
- Files that do not need conversation, meetings or active collaboration.
Important: Teams files are stored in SharePoint or OneDrive
Microsoft Teams provides the collaboration experience, but files are stored behind the scenes in Microsoft 365 storage locations.
- Files shared in a Teams channel are stored in the SharePoint site connected to that Team.
- Files shared in a Teams chat are typically stored in the OneDrive of the person who sent the chat message and shared with the other chat participants
Use SharePoint when files belong to a department or unit
SharePoint is best for shared file storage, long-term access and organized information. It is designed for content that belongs to a group, department, unit, service, program or organization rather than to one individual.
SharePoint is best for:
- Departmental documents.
- Policies and procedures.
- Forms and templates.
- Service documentation.
- Shared meeting materials.
- Knowledge bases.
- Internal resource pages.
- Final or official versions of documents.
- Content that must remain available through staff transitions.
Avoid using SharePoint for:
- Personal drafts that only you need.
- Informal personal notes.
- Short-lived collaboration where Teams would provide better context.
- Files that do not need shared ownership or long-term access.
Why SharePoint matters for continuity
SharePoint is especially useful when files need to remain available over time. Because SharePoint content is associated with a site, team, group or department rather than with one person’s OneDrive, it is better suited for shared ownership and continuity of access.
