FAQ's
- What is included in our Office 365 subscription?
- Outlook
- OneDrive
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- OneNote
- SharePoint
- Teams
These applications can be used in the cloud or installed on your computer.
- How can I install Office 365 on my computer?
Go to portal.office.com and login with your UNC email address and password.
- What is the difference between SharePoint and Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams and SharePoint are two different platforms.
SHAREPOINT
SharePoint (Online) is a collaboration platform (website). It is a repository/one-stop-shop for collaboration and content sharing within your organization/department. Primarily it is used for document storage and it has amazing document management capabilities. You can also use it to organize other types of content (news, events, tasks, etc.) and it integrates well with other Office 365 apps. While SharePoint is a great collaboration/document management tool, it lacks in the
social/communication aspect.
TEAMS
Microsoft Teams is a chat-based (Instant Message) communication tool; think of it as an alternative to email. Instead of sending emails to each other, you chat with colleagues by writing short (or long) messages which all end up in a thread (called Channels in Teams.) Microsoft Teams and SharePoint are united together by an Office 365 Group. Every time you create a new Team, an Office 365 Group is also created including other assets like Calendar, Planner, and a separate SharePoint Site. If you create a SharePoint site, this does not create a Team automatically however it gives you the option to.
Where the confusion of Microsoft Teams vs. SharePoint happens is when you click on a Files Tab within Microsoft Teams. When selected, you see the files that are stored not within a Team, but rather in a document library that resides on a SharePoint site that got provisioned. (When you created a Team for a chat.) - How can I manage the members in my Teams site?
- How do I move a file from one SharePoint site to another?
- Where are my OneDrive and SharePoint files located?
- Can I sync my SharePoint files to File Explorer in Windows?
- What is the difference between a Microsoft 365 Group Email and a Distribution List?
Microsoft 365 groups are used for collaboration between users, both inside and outside your company. With each Microsoft 365 group, members get a group email and shared workspace for conversations, files, calendar events, and a Planner. UNC does support external users.
Distribution Lists are used for sending notifications inside the organization to a group of people. They can receive external email if enabled by the administrator. Distribution groups are best for situations where you need to broadcast information to a set group of people, such as "People in Building A" or "Everyone at Contoso." For more details please follow this link:
- How can I collaborate with people inside and outside of UNC?
UNC does support external sharing. The two main ways to share out of SharePoint Online is to share directly or copy a link. Select the file or folder you would like to share and click the Share button. Alternatively, you can select the file or folder and then select the Copy Link button. After selecting the method, a few options can be configured by the end user. For more details please follow this link:
- I accidentally deleted a OneDrive or SharePoint file. Can it be recovered?
When you delete items (including OneDrive files) from a SharePoint site, they're sent to the site Recycle Bin, where you can restore them up to 93 days if you need to. When you delete items from a site Recycle Bin, they're sent to the site collection Recycle Bin. A system administrator is required to assist you in recovering items from the site collection Recycle Bin, please open a support ticket for assistance. For more details please follow this link:
- How should I organize my SharePoint site(s)?
The basic building blocks of SharePoint Online from a content perspective are Sites, Lists and Libraries. Think of a Site as a container for content (Lists and Libraries) that can have security and policies applied. Microsoft Teams also uses a SharePoint site for file storage. A SharePoint ‘Team’ site can be created either with or without a Microsoft Team
Architecturally SharePoint Online is designed to have multiple Sites rather than one site containing all of your content. Grouping related content together is a good idea to make it easy to distinguish different content and find what you’re looking for. This also allows for permissions to be set at a site level, simplifying the permission management. Multiple sites can be tied together using a SharePoint Hub Site.
To determine the sites you need, asking some questions to identify the groupings, permissions needed, security and compliance requirements:
- Who owns the content in the site?
- Who updates the content in the site?
- Who reads the content in the site?
- Who shouldn’t see the content in the site?
- Can this content be shared outside the organization?
- Will external users (Guests) need access?
- Is this content sensitive?
- Does all of the content in this site belong together?
The answers to these questions will help you determine the overall structure of your SharePoint Online environment. IM&T can assist with helping your department build a structure.
By default, each SharePoint site will have a library names “Documents” it is recommended that this location be used to store all of the files that will be contained within the site. It is recommended to use the flattest file structure possible within the Documents Library to avoid file length and naming limitations. Additional libraries can be added to SharePoint sites when needed, but it is recommended to keep this as minimal as possible as it can add complexity to permission management.
Additional resources on SharePoint Online:
- How should I collaborate with people on a project?
Microsoft Teams can become the “Single Pain of Glass” into all aspects of a project. Existing Teams can used if a project is internal to the existing group, or if the project team crosses functional areas, a new Team can be created just for the project. Teams to not have to be perpetual and can be created and removed based on project timelines. Here is some functionality that are included in Microsoft Teams that can be used for project collaboration
- Teams is a communications and collaboration tool utilizing instant messaging, video calling, and meetings is a great way to keep everyone informed about the project
- Using the integrated SharePoint Online site for document storage and collaboration will allow all project members to have access to any needed documentation as well as functionality such as multi person editing and version history on documents
- All Microsoft Teams include a group calendar for managing deadlines and scheduling meetings
- Microsoft Planner can be integrated into Teams for assigning tasks and keeping track of important actions and checklists
Additional resources for managing projects with Microsoft Teams
- Should I create a new SharePoint site or should I use and existing one?
When evaluating whether or not you need a new SharePoint Site/Team there are a number if things to evaluate.
- Who needs access?
- If you have an existing Site or Team with the same membership, in most cases it is best to utilize the existing Site/Team. If some topic segmentation is needed, this can be accomplished with separate document libraries, or Channels (in Teams). By using an existing site, permission management is streamlined and the number of places users need to look for things is simplified.
- If you do not have an existing Site/Team with the same or similar membership, a new team can be created to facilitate cross functional work.
- Is this site going to be used perpetually or for a specific amount of time (ie: for
a project)?
- Sites/Teams are a great way to manage projects and can be created and archived as needed
- Do people outside of UNC need access?
- There are a number of ways to allow access to Sites/Teams for people outside of the organization. This can be done by adding them to a site/team or allowing access to specific folders or documents.
Feel free to contact IT with questions about creating new Sites/Teams.
- Who needs access?
- File naming Tips and Tricks
File Naming Tips and Tricks
- Use Meaningful File Names
- Only use widely accepted acronyms
- Include the “Who” to make it easier to give access to the right audiences
- Detailed file names help with searches, think about what people might search fo
- Be conscious of the length of your file and folder names by following these guidelines
- File Name < 60 Characters
- Folder Names < 25 Characters
- Folder nesting max < 4
- Limit of 255 characters includes site name, all folders, and file name
- No Special Characters
- “&” and alpha numeric characters only
- Limit “Spaces”
- Using spaces can create very hard to read URLs. Using_an_underscore for spaces is preferred.
- Use Meaningful File Names
help@unco.edu 
