Accessing and Uploading Files in SharePoint Sites

Learn how to quickly and easily upload, open, and save files in your departmental SharePoint site.

SharePoint is a cloud-based collaborative workspace where members can effortlessly and securely work alongside team members across PCs, Macs, and mobile devices alike. Each department has its own dedicated SharePoint site where departmental files are stored (replacing the old fileshare), allowing sharing, file versioning, and realtime collaboration.

Accessing Sharepoint Files

The more you use Office 365, the more convenient doing so becomes, as your most frequently accessed files and folder locations rise to the top of your "Recents" lists wherever you are. In addition to this, you can manually "pin" your most-used files and folders, making your use of SharePoint faster, simpler, and more convenient. 

Opening Files

There are many different ways to access files stored in your departmental SharePoint site(s) (as well as all other files stored in the Office 365 cloud, such as your OneDrive or files in Groups!). 

In the browser (Chrome/Firefox/Edge etc.)

1. Head to office365.stonehill.edu and log in with your Stonehill account.
2. From the "waffle" icon at the top-left, choose SharePoint .
   1. Use the search box to locate your departmental site by name, or access it from your Following list (if you've already followed the site), browser bookmark, or however else you normally access your departmental SharePoint files.
   2. Navigate to and click a file to open it in the browser version of Office. You will be able to view, and edit with limited functionality from anywhere in the world. Alternatively, you can also right-click the file and choose Open > Open in Word (or Excel, PowerPoint etc.) This will open the document in the full version of the given Office application.

In full Office apps (i.e. Word/Excel/PowerPoint etc.)

For this example, we'll imagine we're opening a Word document.

1. Open Word, then go to Open as normal.
2. Click Sites - Stonehill College, and then navigate to your SharePoint site and desired file. If you don't see your departmental site listed, click Add a Place > Office 365 SharePoint to log into your Office application with your Stonehill account. Your Stonehill OneDrive and SharePoint sites you have access to should automatically be populated. (Note that you can also Save files directly to your OneDrive, Groups, and departmental SharePoint site via the same method.)

Pinning frequent files and folders

You can "pin" your most-used files and folder locations for much easier access. You can pin these items in almost all places where a list of your "Recent" items can be found, whether in Office applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, their online versions, your departmental SharePoint site's document library, your OneDrive, even the main "homepage" of Office 365. 

To pin an item in any of these lists, simply look for the pin icon when hovering over a particular file or folder. The exact style of the icon may change slightly from one interface to another, but it should always look something like this: 

In addition, if you don't see the pin icon when hovering your mouse cursor over items in a list, try right-clicking the item as well, as "Pin" or "Pin to top" is often an available option in some interfaces.

Uploading Documents and Folders to SharePoint

1. Navigate to the location on your Department Site where you want the file(s) or folder(s) to reside.
2. Drag the file(s) or folder(s) into the browser and release them  in the Drop here... box that appears.

OR

1. Navigate to the location on your Department Site where you want the file(s) or folder(s) to reside.
2. Select the Upload button.
3. Click on the Files or Folders button to browse and select the file(s) or folder(s) you want to upload.
4. Click on the Open button to choose the file(s) or folder(s).
5. Click the OK button to upload into your Department Sites.