Microsoft Office 365 file sharing instructions
NCSSM students, faculty, and staff can utilize an institutional site license for Microsoft Office 365. Aside from just enabling licensing of locally-installed Microsoft Office applications, it also allows for online collaborative use of web-based Microsoft products when needed, including sharing with individuals external to NCSSM. These instructions include an example of creating, sharing (with various levels of permissions), and accessing an Excel file within Office 365.
Please note that storing files in Microsoft OneDrive is not recommended or officially supported by ITS as a long-term data management or storage solution. For that purpose, exporting files and saving them to Google Drive is preferred.
Creation of a Microsoft Excel 365 file
Sign-in using your NCSSM email and password here: https://www.office.com/
Select the application of choice from the sidebar or app menu, in this case Excel.
Under “Create new”, click Blank workbook.
Use the Excel “Book - Saved” drop-down window to rename and/or move the file (then click out of the drop-down menu).
Sharing of a Microsoft Excel 365 file with those both inside and external to NCSSM
Use the Share dropdown and Share option to get a pop-up window with sharing options.
The default permissions are: People you specify can edit.
Type the email address you wish to share with, and select the same email address pop-up that appears (repeat as needed for more people), and then click Send.
Close the confirming pop up window that lets you know an email was sent to those with whom you shared the file.
Click the Share menu and Share option again to access the sharing window again (it’s different now).
Select People you specify can edit to change settings to share differently with another person or people.
The pop-up sharing window changes again with the last step. Leave “People you choose” selected, and select Can edit and change it to Can view and select Apply.
The Sharing settings window changes again, so that you can share with people giving only view access. As before, type the email address, and select the same email address pop-up that appears (repeat as needed for more people), and then click Send.
Close the confirming pop-up that lets you know an email was sent to those with whom you shared the file.
Click the Share menu and Share option to access the sharing window again (it’s different now).
Select the link 🔗 icon in “Shared with:” to open a pop-up, so that you can see all sharing information so far.
Select the drop-down arrows to see who you have shared with as “can edit” and who you have shared with as “can view”.
Note: There are different links for access depending on sharing privileges.
13. If those with whom you have shared have not been able to find the email sent to them when you shared the file previously, you can use the Copy button to copy the appropriate link to send to each group of people.
People within or external to NCSSM who can edit, can also share with more people giving them either edit or view privileges, and so forth. “Can view” privileges do not allow for further sharing.
14. This works well for sharing purposes, but after the need for edit privileges ends, it is suggested that the owner of the file change privileges back to view only.
15. Close the Manage access window.
To access a file shared with you
Find the email sent to you by “Lastname, Firstname” titled “Lastname, Firstname shared ‘Title of File’ with you.” Within that email, select Open.
In the new tab, window, or pop-up “Sharing Link Validation” that opens, select Send Code.
Look for a new email from “Microsoft Notifications” which contains the code.
Back in “Sharing Link Validation,” enter the code and select Verify.
You should now have access. 🥳
Sharing of a Microsoft Excel 365 file that was shared with you
If you can edit a file, you can share it the same as detailed above. However, only the owner of the file can see with whom the file is shared. So, if you can’t remember whether you shared the file with someone, contact them to ask, or contact the file’s owner.
To manage files stored in Microsoft 365 and OneDrive
Click on the app menu at the top-left.
Click the OneDrive button.
Click on My Files which provides a manageable list for organizing these files.