CHAPTER 4
Working with Microsoft 365 Files Online
Microsoft 365 and the Cloud
Today, people are on the go but often want to take work with them to do while sitting in the waiting room of their doctor’s office, at the airport, or in a hotel room. Using Microsoft 365, you can work from anywhere using almost any device available because, among other reasons, it works with SharePoint and OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud space. From OneDrive, you can log in to cloud space and, using Microsoft 365 web apps — essentially, tools with which you are already familiar — get to work.
Sign In to the Cloud
Signing in to Office Online or to your Microsoft 365 subscription connects your Microsoft 365 apps to the world beyond your computer. Office Online offers free access to the online, limited-edition versions of the Microsoft 365 apps that you can use on any computer. Purchasing a Microsoft 365 subscription gives you access to full versions of the Microsoft 365 desktop programs and the online versions of the products. Signing in gives you access to online pictures and clip art stored at Office.com and enables Microsoft 365 to synchronize files between your computer, OneDrive, and SharePoint.
OneDrive and Microsoft 365
OneDrive is a cloud storage service from Microsoft that you can use with Microsoft 365; 15GB are free, and you can rent additional space. Microsoft 365 saves all documents by default to your OneDrive space so that your documents are always available to you.
Using Microsoft 365 Web Apps
You can create, open, and edit Word, Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint documents from your OneDrive using Microsoft 365 web apps. These online apps are scaled-down editions of Microsoft 365 desktop apps that you can use to review documents and make minor changes.
Take Your Personal Settings with You Everywhere
Microsoft 365 keeps track of personal settings like your recently used files and color theme and makes them available from any computer just by signing in to Microsoft 365. Word and PowerPoint also remember the paragraph and slide you were viewing when you closed a document, and they display that location when you open the document on another machine, making it easy for you to get back to work.
Your Documents Are Always Up-to-Date
Microsoft 365 saves your documents by default in the OneDrive folder you find in File Explorer. As you work, Microsoft 365 synchronizes files with changes to your OneDrive in the background. This technology does not slow down your work environment because Microsoft 365 uploads only changes, not entire documents, saving bandwidth and battery life as you work from wireless devices.
Share Your Documents from Anywhere
You can share your documents both from within a Microsoft 365 app and from your OneDrive. From either location, you can email a document to recipients you choose, post a document to a social media site, or create a link to a document that you can provide to users so that they can view the document in a browser. You can also use Microsoft’s free online presentation service to present Word and PowerPoint documents online.
Open Documents Online or Locally
When you select a Microsoft 365 document online, OneDrive gives you the option of opening the document using either the online version of the app or the desktop version of the app.
Online Document Tools
OneDrive offers several file management tools that you can use with the documents that you store online. These tools include Download, to download a copy to your computer; Delete, to remove the document from OneDrive; Move to, to move the document to another OneDrive folder; Copy to, to copy the document to another OneDrive folder; Rename, to change the document name; and Version history, to see previous versions of the document.
Sign In to Microsoft 365
You can use Microsoft 365 Online or your Microsoft 365 subscription to work from anywhere. While signed in from any device, you can use one of the free Microsoft 365 web apps. Microsoft 365 shares some of your personal settings — such as your Recent Documents list — across devices so that you always have access to them. Desktop product users sign in using a Microsoft 365 subscription, as described in this section and, for the most part, throughout the book.
When you work offline, Microsoft 365 creates, saves, and opens your files from the local OneDrive folder. Whenever you reconnect, Microsoft 365 automatically uploads your changes to the cloud.
Sign In to Microsoft 365
The program’s Start screen appears.
Note: If you are viewing a document, click Sign In near the upper-right corner of the screen.
The Sign In window appears.
