OneDrive, SharePoint or Teams: whose file is it?
Ask whose file it is: yours, your team's or the company's. OneDrive suits the first, a Teams channel or team site the second and a controlled SharePoint library the third.
- Theme
- Information and documentation
- Published
- 3 June 2026
Use OneDrive for work centred on one person
Drafts, working notes and files you are preparing before they enter a team process can sit in your own workspace. You may still share them, but nobody else is expected to maintain them yet. Once a file becomes part of a recurring team task, move it.
Use a team site while people are still editing together
A Teams channel or team site suits information people are actively working on together, such as a draft RAMS, a live tracker or a set of working notes. Files shared in a Teams channel already live in SharePoint, so the real day-to-day choice is usually personal space or team space.
That space works until the content becomes a source other people rely on without checking who last touched it.
Use a SharePoint library when the file must outlast the person
A controlled library suits information a team needs to find and maintain as people come and go, with approval, versioning and read-only access for most people. Libraries, tags, permissions and approval steps can show who is responsible for what if they are set up on purpose. A RAMS moves from a personal OneDrive draft, through a team site while it is reviewed, to a controlled library the moment it is issued for use on site.
Moving an inherited folder tree across is not enough. The structure should follow the work, the audience and the control each kind of document needs.
- 01 Who is responsible for the information over time?
- 02 Is it a draft, a collaborative record or an approved source?
- 03 Who needs to find, change, review or publish it?
- 04 What should happen when a role or project ends?
Write the rule down with your own examples
Pick a few examples from your own work and show where each starts, when it changes status and who looks after it next. Include the route for moving important files out of personal space. Back the rule up with templates, navigation and permissions, so people don't have to remember a policy separate from the task.