Microsoft 365 and the Cloud

Today, people are on the go but often want to take work with them to do while sitting in the waiting room of their doctor’s office, at the airport, or in a hotel room. Using Microsoft 365, you can work from anywhere using almost any device available because, among other reasons, it works with SharePoint and OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud space. From OneDrive, you can log in to cloud space and, using Microsoft 365 web apps — essentially, tools with which you are already familiar — get to work.

Sign In to Microsoft 365

You can use Microsoft 365 Online or your Microsoft 365 subscription to work from anywhere. While signed in from any device, you can use one of the free Microsoft 365 web apps. Microsoft 365 shares some of your personal settings — such as your Recent Documents list — across devices so that you always have access to them. Desktop product users sign in using a Microsoft 365 subscription, as described in this section and, for the most part, throughout the book.

When you work offline, Microsoft 365 creates, saves, and opens your files from the local OneDrive folder. Whenever you reconnect, Microsoft 365 automatically uploads your changes to the cloud.

Share a Document from Microsoft 365

You can easily share documents using Microsoft 365. You can share a Microsoft 365 document by posting it to a social network or blog or sending a document as an email attachment. You can also take advantage of a free online presentation service Microsoft offers and share your document by presenting it online. Or, as shown in this section, you can send a link to your OneDrive — as part of Microsoft 365, you receive free cloud space at OneDrive — where the recipient can view and even work on only the shared document. When you finish, you can stop sharing the document.

Sign In to OneDrive

You can use your OneDrive and Microsoft 365 apps to work from any location in the world on any trusted device. OneDrive offers you online storage from Microsoft. With Microsoft 365, you automatically receive a small amount of storage space for free, and you can rent additional storage space for a nominal fee.

You use a browser and a Microsoft account to sign in to OneDrive. Once you have signed in to OneDrive, you can use the Microsoft 365 web apps to open and edit documents. Microsoft 365 technology synchronizes documents stored in your OneDrive with documents stored on trusted devices.

Using an Online App in OneDrive

From OneDrive, you can use the Microsoft 365 web apps to open documents and modify them using many of the same editing tools you use in the desktop apps.

Although the web apps do not include every desktop feature, you can use the online editing tools to perform basic functions in each app. For example, in the Word online app shown in this section, you can apply character and paragraph formatting, such as bold or italics, and you can align text. You can change margins, edit headers and footers, and insert a table or a picture from your computer.

Open a Document in a Desktop App from OneDrive

When you are using a Microsoft 365 online app to work on a document, you can open that document in the corresponding Microsoft 365 desktop app. For example, suppose that while you are working on a document stored in your OneDrive space, you discover that you need one or more tools that are not available in the online app. If Microsoft 365 is installed on the computer you are using, you can use OneDrive to open the file in the corresponding Microsoft 365 desktop app.

Upload a Document to OneDrive

You can upload any document from your computer to your OneDrive at any time. By default, Microsoft 365 saves all documents to the OneDrive folder on your computer and then, in the background, synchronizes the contents of the OneDrive folder with your online OneDrive space.

But suppose that you sign out of Microsoft 365 and choose to save documents locally on your computer. If you then find that you need a document in your OneDrive space to edit while you travel, you can place a document into your OneDrive folder on your computer and then upload it from your OneDrive space.

Share a Document Using OneDrive

You can use a Microsoft 365 online app to share a document stored on your OneDrive. Suppose that you finish the work on a document from your OneDrive space and you are ready for others to review it. You do not need to use the Microsoft 365 app installed on your computer to invite others to review the document; you can use commands available in OneDrive.

OneDrive offers three ways to share a document: You can send the document by email, share it using a social media service of your choice, or send a link to the document on your OneDrive.