How are Sharepoint and Onedrive Different?

Microsoft seems to excel at creating multiple ways to do almost the same task. Unfortunately their wide offering of overlapping tools often creates confusion among users for which tool to use and when to use it. 

The question arises, "How do I store documents in the cloud so they are available when and where I need them? What is the best way to share documents with other people? And should I use SharePoint or OneDrive?"

Here is an illustration to help understand the difference. 

OneDrive is like your desk drawer. It contains your stuff in a locked compartment and only you have the key. You can share documents with other individuals as you care to, but access is tightly controlled by you. This would be the place to store documents that are not widely needed by the organization as a whole. 

• File Access Across Devices
• Personal Work File Storage
• Create, Edit, Access, Share Files Before Sharing With Team
• Permission to Share Files Is Per Discretion

SharePoint is like the filing cabinet in the hallway. This is a great place to store documents that the organization (or your team) needs to access generally and repeatedly. Team-wide sharing is assumed by default. This filing cabinet still requires a key to unlock, but many people have a key to get access.

• File Access to Entire Team With Shared Libraries
• Group File Storage
• Real Time Sharing and Collaboration With Team
• Centralized Control of Permissions

The decision of where to store a document is up to you. Often there is not a right or wrong place to store a file; just a better or worse choice. Being organized will not happen by default, so please take a moment to consider what is the correct location for your documents before saving them.

It is also important to note that both of these tools are company resources. You should not save non-work related content in either location. Both tools are subject to file retention policies and access by the IT department in need-to-access situations, even if you have terminated as an employee.