File storage and sharing

Overview

Teams makes it easy to share files and work on them together. If working in Word, Excel or PowerPoint files your colleagues can view, edit, and collaborate on them, right within Teams.

Sharing files in a channel

Files that you share in a channel are stored in your team's SharePoint folder. Which can be found in the Files tab at the top of each channel.

Sharing files in chat

Files that you share in a private or group chat are stored in your Microsoft Teams Chat Files folder and are only shared with the people in that conversation. These will be found in the Files tab at the top of a chat.

Note: The OneDrive files you see in Teams are OneDrive for Business files associated with your Office 365 account—not your personal OneDrive.

Managing files and sharing

  • Browse to the Team and channel you require
  • Select the Files tab
  • At the top Click New, then choose to create a Word doc, Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation
  • Type in an appropriate name for the document and click Create
  • Your new document will open right within Teams. As you write the document, everything you do is immediately autosaved back to Teams, as you type. The document is accessible to everyone who is a member of the same Team, not just you
  • Within Teams, you have access to cut-down versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint which are fine for everyday purposes. The full desktop versions have more formatting options. Click Open in Desktop app if you want to use the full version. Changes are still autosaved back to Teams
  • Tip: Not ready to share your early draft with others in the Team? You can create the first version in OneDrive, and then move it into Teams when you are ready to share it
Upload and sharing files

Working in Microsoft Teams lets you work on files together at the same time. Also, messages about the document stay with it and will show up in your team conversations.

  • In a team conversation or in the Files tab, select More options next to the file
  • Choose if you want to edit the file in Teams, on your desktop, or online
  • Edit the file. Coloured flags show who else is working on it with you
  • Select Start conversation to add a message about the file
  • Type your message or @mention someone and select Send
Work on a file

Filter files to find recent documents, ones that have been created or edited in your channels, or downloaded to your computer.

Select the Files icon from the left navigation bar ‌and choose to filter by:

  • Recent: Recent files you've viewed or edited
  • Microsoft Teams: Files created or edited across your channels
  • Downloads: Files you've downloaded from Teams. Select Open Downloads Folder to find them
How to find and filter files
How to access and work on files without an internet connection

You can sync your Teams files to a folder on your computer. This lets you work directly in File Explorer and access files even when you're offline. And when you go back online, any changes made to those files will sync automatically.

Files from a single channel
  • Go to the Team and channel you wish to sync and select the Files tab
  • Select the Sync. (You only need to do this once. After you set up syncing, the files sync automatically on your computer)

Image showing how to sync from a Teams channel‌

  • The files then sync to a folder on your PC under 'Loughborough University. This folder is automatically added to the left pane in File Explorer. You can’t select to sync to a different location

Image showing what it looks like when sync has completed‌

 

The Recycle Bin provides a safety net when users delete files, versions of files, list items, libraries, lists, and folders from a site. When users delete any of these items from a site, the items are placed in the Recycle Bin.

  • Open the channel's Files tab and select Open in SharePoint at the top of the page

Image shows how to go from Teams to Sharepoint for recovery‌

  • In SharePoint, select Recycle bin on the left side of the page. This will show a list of all files deleted from every channel in the team

Image of the Teams recycling bin from within Shaerpoint‌

  • Select the file (or files) you want to recover and then select Restore at the top of the page

Deleted files are held in the Recycle Bin for 93 days by default.

For Second-stage recycle bin, please refer to the FAQ section.