In this tutorial, we’ll talk about how we can add and sync up our SharePoint files or document libraries on our desktop.
Document library is an important app in SharePoint. It’s where we can store, create, update, and share files with everyone in our organization.
For this example, I’ll add my document library named as Documents on my OneDrive.
Adding SharePoint Files To OneDrive
Aside from accessing document libraries on SharePoint via the browser, we can also have it on our desktop. First, we need to click on the Add shortcut to OneDrive option on the menu bar.
If the document library is already on our OneDrive, a notification will tell us that it already exists.
Let’s go to our OneDrive to check if the folder is added. Just click the app launcher.
Then, click OneDrive.
Again, the document library folder that I added was named as Documents, which is this folder inside my OneDrive. I’ll go inside this folder to see if it really contains my SharePoint files.
As we can see, it contains the same folders that my Documents document library has on SharePoint. Now, any files on my SharePoint document library are also here on my OneDrive and it’s all synced as well.
But how do we add this on our desktop?
Adding SharePoint Files To Your Desktop
First, we need to open up a file explorer on our desktop. Right click any of our OneDrive accounts. Usually, we have OneDrive – Personal.
Then, click Settings.
After that, let’s add the account that we’re using on our SharePoint by clicking the Add an account button.
Then, it’ll ask us to log in. Make sure to use your account on SharePoint.
Once we’re logged in, that OneDrive account will be added on our file explorer. Mine is the OneDrive – Competent Learning because this is the account that I’m using on my SharePoint. Let’s try to click it. We usually need to wait for a few minutes for our files to sync.
Once it synced, we can now see our document library. Let’s click on it.
Then, we’ll see that it also contains the folders that we have on our SharePoint document library.
Synchronization Testing
Let’s test if it’s syncing properly. Let’s open a sample file on our document library from our desktop. For this example, I’ll open up this Food Memo word file.
Then, let’s make some changes on our file. Here, I’ll type “Hello, I made a change directly from a desktop file”, then save and close it.
As a result, we’ll see a checkmark icon under the Status. That means our changes are now synced.
Let’s go back to our Document Library on SharePoint. Look for the same file that we’ve edited on our desktop. For this example, it’s inside the Food folder.
Again, I edited the Food memo word file. We’ll also see under the Modified column that it was modified a few seconds ago. Let’s open our sample file.
Then, we’ll see that the change we’ve made on our desktop was also added here.
***** Related Links *****
Versioning In SharePoint Document Library
Check Out And Check In SharePoint Files
SharePoint Versioning For Non-Office Files
Conclusion
All in all, that’s how we can add and sync up our SharePoint files on our desktop. I personally don’t recommend doing this as having your files on document libraries on SharePoint is good enough.
Even if we don’t add our documents to our desktop, we can still open the files through our desktop applications. Also, by having our document libraries on SharePoint, we can easily do things like versioning. We also have the informational metadata feature of SharePoint that makes our files organization much easier.
All the best,
Henry
