Disks. CDs. Flashdrives. All of these have one main purpose: to let you keep a separate copy of your files that can serve as a back-up or be carried around with you. And each new item gets smaller, easier to use, and able to hold more and more of your documents. Right now you can fit gigs and gigs of information on a durable little drive the size of your thumb that you can carry anywhere with you. So what’s the next step? Having your files at your fingertips without having to carry anything at all.

Storing your files online means never having to hunt around for a CD. No more wondering whether you remembered to grab your flash drive from your desk before you ran out the door. Anywhere you have an internet connection, you have your files. On almost any device. Laptop or desktop, iPhone or tablet, all of them will have access to your stored files. And most basic accounts are completely free.

The online storage site we’ll talk about most and use for our in-class exercises isOneDrive. Because it doesn’t require any software downloads OneDrive is the best suited for our classroom computers. You’ll be able to find a longer list of storage sites and a couple of interesting articles at the back of the handout.

OneDrive is run by Microsoft. Your OneDrive account is created automatically when you sign up for a Microsoft e-mail at Outlook.com. This makes it pretty convenient for people just getting started and the free 7 gigs of storage isn’t bad either. If you do not have an outlook account then you will need to provide a working cellphone number when you sign up at

If you already have an outlook account from taking our e-mail class just sign in with your e-mail address and password. If you do not, then click the ‘Sign up’ link and fill out the brief form.

Once you are logged into your OneDrive account look over the basic layout. You should see three starting folders: Documents, Pictures, andPublic. Above the folders is a blue stripe that runs along the top of the webpage, yourCreate and Upload buttons are located here. Your available storage is located in the lower left corner.

Create and Edit a Document in OneDrive.

1. Click on the Create button and select Word document. Word Online will now open your blank document. To name it, click in the blue stripe along the top where it says Document 1 and type in what you would like to call it.

2. Type something into the document. Since we are using the Word web app, what you type will be saved automatically. If you look at the thin blue stripe at the bottom of the screen while you are typing, you should see the status Saving…. A few seconds after you stop typing you should see the status change to SavedToOneDrive. When you are finished with your document, click the word OneDrive in the upper left corner. This will take you back to the main area.

3. Click on your document to open it back up. When it first opens it will be in View Onlymode and you will not be able to make changes. To make a change you will need to click the Edit Document button in the upper left corner. Select Edit in Word Online from the dropdown that appears and make your changes.

4. Sometimes when a document goes through many changes rapidly, particularly when it is being edited by more than one person, you will want to see older versions. Click on File in the upper left corner and select Info from the list. To the right you should now see Previous Versions. Click on it. The version list will appear down the left side of your screen. The current version will be shown first with older versions listed below in order of age. Older versions can be viewed by clicking on them and once they are selected can be either restored or downloaded. Return to the main area by clicking on OneDrive in the upper left corner.

Save an Office Document From your Desktop to OneDrive.

1. Open the document you want to save to OneDrive. This can be either an entirely new document or one you saved ages ago. In your open document go to File in the upper left corner and select Save As from the list. OneDrive should be one of your options to the right of Save As.

2. Click on OneDrive and then click on Sign In which should be down and slightly to the right. Once you have signed in, make sure OneDrive is still selected and then click Browse. In the box that opens confirm the name you want the file to have and click Save in the lower right corner.

3. You can now close the document using the X in the upper right corner and return to OneDrive. You may need to refresh your view before newly added documents appear. This can be done by using your browser’s refresh button or by pressing F5 along the top of your keyboard.

Organizing and Sharing your Documents in OneDrive.

1. Click on Create in the upper left corner and then click on Folder. Type the name of your folder into the box that appears and click the Create button in the lower right corner. You can create as many folders as you need, both in the main area and inside other folders.

2. Point to one of your documents, this will cause a small checkbox to appear in the upper right corner of the document. Click on the checkbox. The document is now selected. This works on folders as well. While a document or folder is selected additional options become available in the blue stripe near the top of your screen: Open, Download, Share, Embed, Manage and Clear selection.

Open allows you to go directly to an editable version of the document. Download allows you to save the current version of the document to the computer you are currently using. Share allows you to decide what other parties will have access to a document and how. Embed allows you to generate HTML code for adding a document to a blog or website. (Embedded documents can be seen by anyone who visits the blog or website.) Manage lets you do things like rename, move, or delete documents. Clear selection removes selection from all files.

3. Click on Manage and click onMove to, this will open a box with a listing of your top level folders. If a folder contains subfolders then there will be a symbol to the left of it and clicking on the will show the subfolders. Click on the Documents folder, then click Move at the bottom of the box. Using this method you can easily move several files at a time.

4. If you only want to move a single file you can still drag the file to the folder you want to place it in. Drag one of your remaining files to the folder you created. Now click the checkbox on the folder you created and click on Share. A wide box will open in the middle of your screen with the different sharing option listed to the left. Left click on the sharing option you want to use and fill out any needed information like email addresses. Down below, either as a link or a dropdown, you will see the permissions. These control what other people are allowed to do with this file. View Only is the default, but you can allow others to edit your shared files, even if they don’t have a Microsoft account.

5. Account settings and Sign out are reached by clicking on your account name in the upper right corner. The  button directly to the left of your account name provides Help and Options.

Notes

1. Microsoft is in the process of changing SkyDrive into OneDrive. These are the same service with most of the same features, OneDrive is just the updated version. But for the next few weeks/months you may see both names around.

2. With the OneDrive website you can open any of your OneDrive accounts. And yes, you can create more than one as long as you use a separate email address for each account. However, if you are using the OneDrive/Skydrive App on your PC you can only get to the OneDrive associated with the user account you’re logged in under.

Additional Resources

Dropbox –

You will need a working email to sign up and there is a set-up file to download. A free account comes with 2 Gigs of storage space. The installation provides a brief tour and includes a Getting Started manual. Dropbox allows for syncing so that any changes made to the Dropbox folder on one device can automatically update the Dropbox folders on other devices as long as an internet connection is present.

Box–

Around since 2005 Box is now used by more than 13 million individuals worldwide to store their stuff. A free account gets you started with a generous 10 gigs of storage space. Box requires you to provide a working e-mail address and a phone number when you sign up. It may have some issues sending the confirmation e-mail to outlook.com accounts.

Bitcasa–

One of the newer storage sites and still a tad rough around the edges, but with a nice interface for mobile devices and some extra ways to help organize and view your files. Your free account starts with 10 gigs of storage. Bitcasa requires you to provide a working e-mail address when you sign up and you will need to download a set-up file, but after that it can be easily accessed from your desktop. The first time you log in through the desktop icon you’ll get a brief tutorial. The Infinite Drive can also mirror folders that it will then keep in sync as long as an internet connection is present.

The Top 8 Free Online Storage Sites –

Just what the title says. This article provides links to and brief descriptions of what the SocialTimes considers to be the current best eight online storage sites.

How To Make the Most of Cloud Storage –

Five tips to help make your online storage use as easy and painless as possible.

What Cool Things Can I Do with All This Free Cloud Storage Space? –

Get some advice on what online storage services work the best for which jobs as well as some general strengths and weaknesses for the most popular services.

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