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Teams and OneDrive Acceptable Use Cases

OneDrive vs. Teams: Where should I store my files? 

In general, OneDrive should be used for files that are only used by you and Teams should be used for collaborative work. Here’s a breakdown of acceptable use cases:

OneDrive

Use OneDrive as your individual workspace to store business documents with limited need to share. However, documents created in OneDrive maybe considered university records and must be managed per retention schedules  

For example:  

  • Personal work routines such as drafting and note taking 
  • Early drafts of files that may later require collaboration, but you are not yet ready to share  
  • Business Information that you are saving for personal reference 
  • Professional association files that are turned over or no longer needed at the end of your term 

Do not use OneDrive for: 

  • Documents that require long-term use by a team; if the account holder leaves the university, shared links are removed on the termination date. 
  • Backup copies of data that is already stored elsewhere 
  • Research data that requires large-volume storage and requires long-term retention (see your IT support for other options). 
  • Personal data like pictures, music, movies, tax documents, etc. 
  • Backup of your laptop or external hard drives 

Microsoft has provided a video overview to help you get started creating, managing, and sharing files in OneDrive and SharePoint. 

Teams

Use Teams to store files that other collaborators are working on for projects. Use Teams to store: 

  • Any resources that may still be needed long-term and per retention schedules, even if you leave the organization 
  • Routine communications and activities of a team 
  • Current documentation of internal workflows and day-to-day operations and processes 

Do not use Teams for 

  • Backup copies of data that is already stored elsewhere 
  • Research data that requires large-volume storage and requires long-term retention (see your IT support for other options). 
  • Personal data like pictures, music, movies, tax documents, etc. 
  • Backup of your laptop or external hard drives

Microsoft 365 backup

Data you create and store in Microsoft 365 services are not backed up in the traditional sense.  Microsoft services are architected for high availability, services are designed to be collaboration tools, not long-term storage solutions.  While there are some safeguards in place we recommend for any critical data you keep an offline copy as backup.