Preserving Shared OneDrive Files Created by Someone Who's Left the College

Tags OneDrive

Issue/Question

How to preserve shared OneDrive files created by someone who's left the college.

Environment

When someone leaves the college, their Microsoft Office 365 account gets disabled and later deleted. Any files that they created and stored in OneDrive are deleted as part of this process even if those documents have been shared with others. To preserve institutional knowledge it's important that these shared files be retained. The process for saving OneDrive documents shared by someone who has left the college involves one of the people with whom the documents have been shared, downloading the shared files to their computer, then re-uploading the files to their OneDrive and sharing them back out to the team.

Resolution

To see which files have been shared with you in OneDrive:

  1. Login to login.bowdoin.edu
  2. Click on the Microsoft Office 365 Office Portal tile.
  3. In the new window click on the OneDrive icon.
  4. In the window that opens click on Shared.
  5. The default should be Shared with You. Meaning documents that others have created and then shared with you via OneDrive. The owner of the document will show to the right of the name of the file.
  6. To download a file select it so it is highlighted, then right-click and select Download. If you do not have the option to download a folder you may need to open it and then download its contents.
  7. Once the file has been downloaded, click on My Files in OneDrive to return to your OneDrive home, then drag the downloaded file into the web browser where you have OneDrive-> My Files open. You should see the file get added to the list of files as well as getting a notification of the upload.
  8. Once the files have been uploaded to your OneDrive, click on one to highlight it, then click on the Share button above. Enter the email of the people or group you want to share with and click Send. They will receive an email letting them know the file has been shared. Once they accept the share, the file will appear in Shared section in their OneDrive.

If you need further assistance, please contact the Bowdoin College Service Desk

Print Article