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🔰 Microsoft OneDrive Infographic : How to create a shortcut to files stored in other people's OneDrive and document libraries so that I can easily find them in my OneDrive ?
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How can I create a shortcut to a file that someone has shared with me so that I can store it anywhere on my Onedrive?
Managing access to shared files is a real concern for many Microsoft 365 users.
There are a number of options available today: Favourites, folder shortcuts and, more recently, tags that can be applied individually to files across your Microsoft 365 space.
The shortcut is a very interesting solution, but until now it was only available for a shared folder and not for an individual file, which limited the organisational possibilities as all files in the folder were affected and the shortcut was therefore created on a block of files.
Since September 2020, you have been familiar with folder shortcuts in OneDrive to make it easier to access and organise shared folders. Microsoft has just announced the general availability of shortcuts for files shared with you via OneDrive or Sharepoint.
This works in a similar way to file shortcuts for existing folders.
In OneDrive
The file shortcut is available for each file in the following lists Home, My Files, Shared, Favourites)
In Sharepoint or Teams
The file shortcut is available for any file stored in the site or team Sharepoint library.
When a user selects a file and clicks Add Shortcut, two options are offered to determine the location of the shortcut: My Files and Other Files.
If you select My Files, a .url file will be created in your My Files list in OneDrive.
If you select Other locations, a file selector will appear allowing you to choose a location for the file shortcut in OneDrive or in the document libraries you have access to.
The default name of the shortcut is the name of the source file followed by .url. For example, if you create a shortcut to ProjectABC.docx, the shortcut name will be ProjectABC.docx.url and will be visually represented by an arrow icon.
File shortcuts can only be added from OneDrive Web, SharePoint Web, and Teams.
File shortcuts can be accessed from OneDrive Web, SharePoint Web, OneDrive iOS and Android, OneDrive Sync Client and Teams. There is no significant difference in how file shortcuts behave across devices.
Favorite a file -- VS -- Add a file shortcut -- VS -- Sync a file in OneDrive
🚩 Favorite a file
- The favorite marks the content for quick access.
- The Favorite provides easy access to frequently used files across all Microsoft 365 applications.
- The Favorite is available on the Microsoft 365 home page and in many other Microsoft 365 applications.
- The Favorite is visible in the block list of all Favorites, regardless of the device you are using.
🚩 Sync a file
- File synchronisation copies content to your local device
- Synchronisation is available in SharePoint document libraries and in OneDrive
- Synchronisation is linked to a specific device.
- Synchronisation allows you to work directly in File Explorer and access files even when you're offline.
🚩 Add a file shortcut
- The file shortcut creates a link to the content.
- The file shortcut allows you to organise collections of content in your OneDrive.
- The file shortcut is available in both SharePoint document libraries and OneDrive, regardless of the device you use.
- The file shortcut doesn't sync anything to your computer. It simply creates a link or bookmark to the document library or folder in your OneDrive for Business.
1 - Users cannot favorite a file shortcut
2 - When a user shares a file shortcut or moves it to a shared location, they are not sharing the source file.
3 - Users cannot preview file shortcuts because the shortcut file itself does not contain any information to preview
4 - Users can only add a shortcut for the content of your tenant
5 - If you use the OneDrive sync client to synchronize both OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online folders and then add a OneDrive shortcut to a folder in the same document library, it might create a sync issue.
