OneDrive, SharePoint or Teams: where to save what
Updated 9 November 2026 · How-to
The simple rule for choosing between your own OneDrive, a SharePoint library and a Teams channel, so files are easy to find and nothing is lost when someone leaves.
Microsoft 365 gives you three places to put files, and they look similar from the inside. Choosing the right one is not about technology; it is about who the file belongs to. Get that right and files stay findable, shareable and safe when people come and go.
OneDrive is yours
Your OneDrive is personal working space. Drafts, notes, files you are working on alone and anything that is really only yours belong here. It is backed up and it follows you to every device. The catch is that it is tied to your account: when someone leaves the business, their OneDrive has to be rescued by a manager before it is deleted. So anything the team relies on should not live only in somebody's OneDrive.
SharePoint is the business's
A SharePoint document library belongs to the business, not to a person. Policies, templates, client folders, finance records and anything more than one person needs should live in SharePoint. Access is set by group, so a new starter in Accounts automatically sees the Accounts library, and a leaver automatically loses it. Nothing disappears when someone leaves.
Teams is SharePoint with a conversation attached
Every team in Microsoft Teams has a SharePoint site behind it. The Files tab in a channel is simply a folder in that library. So saving a file in a Teams channel is saving it to SharePoint, with the bonus that the conversation about it happens alongside. Use Teams for project work and anything a group is actively collaborating on.
The rule of thumb
If only you will ever need it, OneDrive. If the business needs it, SharePoint, or the Teams channel for that team. If you are not sure, SharePoint: it is easier to tighten access on a shared file than to recover one from a departed colleague's account.
Keep the structure simple
A few libraries with clear names and a shallow folder structure beat a deep tree that only one person understands. Very long folder paths also cause sync problems. If your current setup has grown messy, we can help you plan a cleaner structure and move files without breaking links; email hello@bitnode.tech.
Working on files together
Files in SharePoint and Teams can be edited by several people at the same time, and every version is kept, so there is no need to email copies back and forth or add "v2 final FINAL" to file names. Right-click a file and choose Version history to see or restore earlier versions.
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