Using Office 365 to Share Documents

As a student of Victoria University, you have access to Office 365 suite, an online cloud-based service from Microsoft, which allows users to collaborate for free with online versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote, as well as access to Outlook, SharePoint and other productivity apps. In addition, you can save documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online and choose to share files and folders with another person (or groups of people) to collaborate.

Below are the steps on how to create a Shared Document:

 

Step One: Access Office365

As a student, you can download and install Office365 for free, visit Office 365 for students for instructions.

Once installed, you can use Office 365 offline or online.

1. Go to https://www.office.com/ and select Sign in.

2. Connect your VU account to Microsoft Office by signing in with your Student This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Select Next once completed.

3. If you have signed into Microsoft Office before, you can select one of your current accounts connected to VU if you have multiple accounts.

4. Once your account is selected, or you need to connect your VU account to Microsoft, you will be asked to Log in to VU using your Student This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ( e.g. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ). Select Log in once you have typed in your VU ID and Password.







 

Step Two: Access and Navigate OneDrive

1. Once logged into Microsoft Office365, navigate to any documents, spreadsheets or presentations you have created within Office365 (Word, Excel and PowerPoint). To do this, you can search for specific documents by type. For example, you can select the Word icon in the navbar on the left-hand side of the page to look through all your Word documents specifically. 

Select the Home symbol to showcase all file types.

Word Doc Symbol

2. If you have never saved anything to Office365 before or wish to upload a specific file or folder, navigate to OneDrive on the navbar once logged in. This is where all your personal documents will be located and stored.

If you have never saved a document within Office365, this is where these documents will be stored once shared and saved online for backup purposes.

Select OneDrive on the Side Bar

3. There are three sections of OneDrive you should be aware of:

  1. My files: This is your document storage, just like on your computer or USB; you will find all your files and shared files within this folder.
  2. Shared: Is where you’ll find any files or folder other people have shared with you.
  3. Shared libraries: This is a list of any SharePoint groups or sites you are a member of.

There are three sections of OneDrive My Files Shared and Shared Libraries

 

Step Three: Uploading your Files or Folders to OneDrive

1. To add an existing file or folder to your OneDrive, select the Upload Dropdown Arrow in OneDrive, then select either Files or Folder. This will make a new copy of the file or folder you are uploading onto the cloud storage.

The original file or folder on your computer device will still be there.

Select Upload

Selecting the Upload dropdown arrow will allow you to select Files or Folder 

You can create new documents directly in OneDrive by selecting New and then one of the many office365 programs.

2. Once Files or Folder is selected, you will be prompted to find the file or folder from your current computer device. Browse through your computer to find and select what you wish to create an online copy of. Press Open at the bottom right of the browser to upload the document.

3. The file will upload onto OneDrive. You will notice a loading symbol near the top right of the page indicating this process.

The file will upload onto OnDrive you will notice a loading symbol to indicate thisjpg

4. A newly uploaded document will have three blue lines located on the left of the first letter of the file, as seen below.

A new uploaded document will have three blue lines next on the left of the first letterjpg

 

Step Four: Sharing a Document

1. You can identify if a file is shared or not by the Sharing Column. For example, if a file is set to Private, you can change the file or folder to Shared via a few steps.

You can identify if a file is shared or not by the Sharing Colum

2. You may hover your mouse over the file you wish to share; this will cause a share button to appear near the middle of the saved file. Press the Share button to activate the share settings.

You may hover your mouse over the file you wish to share click the share buttonjpg

3. The most common method includes the following step. You can select the Radio button next to the file of choice on the left-hand side and select Share on the top navbar to activate the share settings.

The Radio button is only tickable when hovering over a file or folder of choice. 

You can select the radio button next to the file and then select Share on the top navbar to edit

Once the Share button is selected in any of the methods suggested above, the Send Link settings will activate, allowing you to turn the file or folder into a sharable online source for others to participate in.

4. Press on People you specify can view to edit the share settings of the file. 

Click on People you specify can view

5. Select Select Anyone with the link to allow all who receive access to this file to access it online to allow all who receive access to this file to access it online.

The following settings are optional:

  • You may tick Allow editing to allow anyone with this access the ability to edit the file. (This option is recommended).
  • You may press the Date of Expiry to edit the date to your liking. However, this will cause all who have received access to lose access on the date of choice.
  • You may press Set Password to type in a password to secure the file.

Once Select Anyone with the link has been selected and all optional settings have been decided, select Apply.

Select Anyone with the link to allow all who receive access to this file to access it online

6. If you prefer to share a file for a long time without expiry with participants and staff from VU, in particular, you can select People in Victoria University with the link to allow access to staff and students within VU to access this file instead.

The following settings are optional:

  • You may tick Allow editing to allow anyone with this access the ability to edit the file. (This option is recommended).

Once People in Victoria University with the link has been selected, and all optional settings have been decided, select Apply.

You can select People in Victoria Univeristy to allow access specifically

7. Start typing the name of the person you would like to share the file or folder with, and a list of VU people will appear within the search bar. Select the person.

You can add as many people as you like.

Type the name of the person you would like to share the file with and select the person

8. When finished, select Send, and the person or people will get an email notifying them you have shared a file or folder with them.

Once done you can select Send to send the link to the selected participantsjpg

9. If the users you wish to add are not from VU or are not showing up within the search bar, you can select Outlook instead. This will open Outlook for you to send an email through your own doing. 

There is a possibility that sometimes even going to Outlook won't work. In this rare case, select Copy Link to get a link to send to others instead. All users will be able to access your file once the link is selected on their end. 

 

Step Five: Sharing a PowerPoint

It is important to understand that you can share and make collaborative documents within Office365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word and Excel.

1. Open the PowerPoint application either online or on your device.

Select PowerPoint

2. Open the PowerPoint you would like to share, either a new document or something already made by you.

3. On the right-hand side of the PowerPoint screen, select Share. 

Select Share

4. If you have multiple OneDrive accounts, you will be asked to upload the document. Make sure to select your student OneDrive account.
 

Upload your document to the correct OneDrive Student Account

5. Select People you specify can view to edit the share settings of the file. 

Click on People you specify can view

6. Select Anyone with the link. Under the Other settings, you will be able to allow editing rights, create an expiration date and create a password for the PowerPoint. Once ready, confirm by selecting Apply. 

Select Anyone with the link and Allow editing then select Apply

7. Select Copy Link. A new pop-up window should appear; select Copy. Share this link with others through email or within VU Collaborate. 

Select Copy link  Copy the link to share it with others via email

8. By accessing that link, you will be able to view others working on the online document while you yourself work on said document.

It is recommended to continuously save the document to allow updates to show for all users within the document.

By sharing a document, all updates will be updated on the online file stored on the OneDrive. If you wish to save copies onto a USB or your device, make sure to download a copy of the online version.