Create, Upload and Share Documents

Locked lesson.

Upgrade

About this lesson

Create files, upload files, and share files with team members via the Teams channel or Files tab.

Quick reference

Create, Upload and Share Documents

Learn how to create documents within Teams by harnessing the power of Microsoft 365, upload documents to Teams, and share documents with others. 

When to use

We create, upload, and share documents in Teams whenever we want to collaborate and share information with team members. 

Instructions

An important part of Teams is being able to seamlessly share documents with others. There are two main ways to share files in Teams: send a copy of the file or send a link. 

All files shared in a channel can be found in the Files tab. 

Attach a File in a Conversation

We can share files in a conversation by simply attaching a copy. 

  • Go to a channel. 
  • Click New conversation. 
  • Type a message. 
  • Click the paperclip icon under the message. 
  • Choose the location where the file is stored. 
  • Select the file. 
  • Click Upload a copy. 
  • Click Send. 

Once the file has been sent, channel members can click the three dots next to the file and open it, download it, copy the link or make it a tab. Opening the document in a browser allows people to edit the document in Microsoft 365. 

The uploaded file will now be available in the Files tab in the channel. Click the three dots next to the file to see additional actions. 

Copy vs Link

What's the difference between sending a copy and sending a link to a document? A copy is exactly that. It's a copy of the original document. When we send a copy to someone else, any changes they make to the document will not affect the original. 

When we send a link, we are sending a link to the original document. Any changes made by other people will be merged into the original document. 

Open a File in a Browser

We can open any file in Teams in a browser. This harnesses the power of Microsoft 365 and enables co-authoring on a document. Multiple people can open the same file in a browser and make changes at the same time. The changes will be merged into the document. 

We will discuss co-authoring in the next lesson. 

Check a File Out/In

By default, anyone in the channel can open an uploaded file and make changes. It might be that we want to lock the file down temporarily so only we can make changes. We do this using Check Out//Check In. 

  • Go to the Files tab in a channel. 
  • Click the three dots next to the file. 
  • Click More. 
  • Click Check out. 

The file is now locked for our exclusive use. No one else will be able to open the file until we have checked it back in. We can see files that are checked out represented by a small red arrow icon. 

Once we've made our changes, we can check the file back in. 

  • Click the three dots next to the file. 
  • Click More. 
  • Click Check in. 
  • Add comments if required. 
  • Click Check in. 

Create Word, PowerPoint, and Excel Files in Teams

We can create Word, PowerPoint, and Excel Files from within Teams. This is useful as it means we don't need to open the separate applications, create our document and then upload it to Teams. 

  • Go to the channel. 
  • Click the Files tab. 
  • Click the drop-down arrow next to New. 
  • Choose the file to create, e.g. Word document. 
  • Give the document a title. 
  • Click Create. 

Word online will open within the Teams window and we can type our document. It will automatically be saved to OneDrive and available in the Files tab in the channel. Anyone can jump into the file and edit it. 

Upload a File

We can upload files and folders from our local drives by clicking the Upload button in the Files tab.

Hints & tips

  • When we download a file from Teams, it will be stored in the Downloads folder by default. 
  • Create new folders in Teams to organize documents. 
Login to download
  • 00:04 An important part of Teams is to be able to seamlessly share documents
  • 00:08 that you have stored on your device with others.
  • 00:11 And this includes files of any type that are on the Files tab of your channels and
  • 00:18 chants stored in OneDrive or maybe on your PC.
  • 00:22 And there are two main ways to share files in Microsoft Teams.
  • 00:26 You can send the file itself or you can send a link to the file.
  • 00:30 So I'm now back in the marketing channel for Northwind Traders, and
  • 00:35 maybe I have a file that I want to share with the other members of this channel.
  • 00:40 Now, before I do that, one important thing to notice here is right at the top where
  • 00:45 we have the channel name.
  • 00:47 Notice that currently I'm clicked on the Posts tab where we're having this
  • 00:51 conversation, but I also have a Files tab.
  • 00:53 Now, currently that is empty because I haven't shared any files within
  • 00:58 this conversation.
  • 01:00 But you will notice that as soon as I upload a file and
  • 01:03 share it with my team, that file is going to be stored in this Files area.
  • 01:08 And you will find this Files tab in every single channel that you have in Teams.
  • 01:14 So it's a great place to go if you're looking for documents.
  • 01:18 Now, let's go back to posts.
  • 01:19 Maybe I have a pitch deck presentation that I want to
  • 01:23 share with the marketing team, and this is a PowerPoint file.
  • 01:27 So this is simply a case of starting a new conversation and attaching the file.
  • 01:32 So let's click New Conversation button.
  • 01:34 I'm going to add a little message and
  • 01:37 then underneath I'm going to click on the paperclip icon, Attach.
  • 01:42 Now, notice here I can choose to attach from a recent list of files.
  • 01:47 I can browse in my other teams and channels.
  • 01:50 So if I've shared a file elsewhere, I could possibly find it through there.
  • 01:55 I can get it from OneDrive or I can upload it from my computer.
  • 02:00 Now I have some files stored off to my computer.
  • 02:03 And these are also saved in OneDrive.
  • 02:07 So I'm going to go to OneDrive first of all, and it's going to open up
  • 02:11 the OneDrive that's associated with my Microsoft 365 account.
  • 02:16 And it's showing me all of the folders that I have.
  • 02:19 So if I go into Teams 2022, I've got mine in the Course Files folder,
  • 02:25 and I think it's in Section 4.
  • 02:28 Yes, there it is, the Pitch Deck Presentation.
  • 02:32 So I want to attach this file.
  • 02:35 So I'm going to select it, and then I can choose to upload a copy or
  • 02:40 I can share a link.
  • 02:41 So what's the difference between these two?
  • 02:44 Well, if I upload a copy, it is a copy of the original file.
  • 02:49 So if I share this with my other channel members and they then download that
  • 02:54 file and make changes to it, those changes are not going to reflect in the original.
  • 03:00 Whereas if I send a link,
  • 03:02 I'm basically just linking them through to the original file.
  • 03:06 So any changes that they make in that scenario will be updated.
  • 03:11 So it really depends how you want to manage that.
  • 03:13 Now, in this instance, I'm just going to upload a copy.
  • 03:17 Now, depending on the size of the file, this can take a few seconds.
  • 03:20 Mine's now done and then I can simply send that through.
  • 03:25 Now, similarly when the other channel members receive this file,
  • 03:29 they have a few different options if they click on the three dots.
  • 03:33 They can choose to open it directly in PowerPoint for
  • 03:37 desktop app, or in the online version of PowerPoint.
  • 03:41 So that's particularly good if they're may be on the train and
  • 03:45 they only have their phone with them, they an still open and
  • 03:48 edit this document by leveraging the power of Microsoft 365.
  • 03:52 All they need is a working Internet connection.
  • 03:55 They might choose to download the file which is going to download a copy and
  • 04:00 save it to the Downloads folder on their PC.
  • 04:03 They can copy the link to this file and maybe send it on to somebody else,
  • 04:08 or alternatively they can make this a tab.
  • 04:11 Now again, tabs are something we're going to discuss a bit later on.
  • 04:15 But just be aware of all of the open options you have if you receive a file in
  • 04:20 this way.
  • 04:20 So now that I've uploaded this file into this conversation,
  • 04:25 if I go back to the Files tab at the top, there is that file.
  • 04:30 And from here, again, I have three dots which is going to show me the different
  • 04:34 actions I can take on this file.
  • 04:36 If it's a particularly important file,
  • 04:39 I could choose to pin it to the top of the list so that it's easy for me to access.
  • 04:45 If I want to maybe copy the link to this file and send it to other people,
  • 04:49 I have a copy link option just there.
  • 04:51 I can download it, I can delete it.
  • 04:55 I can rename it, or I can even move it to somewhere else.
  • 04:59 So if I decide that this file needs to be in a different channel or
  • 05:04 even a different team, I can do that from here.
  • 05:08 And the cool thing about this is if I decide to open this and
  • 05:11 start editing here, let's say in a browser, if anybody else also opens this
  • 05:16 file to start editing it, I'll be able to see their changes in real time.
  • 05:21 So it's a great way again to collaborate on files with your team.
  • 05:26 Now, it might be that you want to make changes to this file, but you don't
  • 05:31 want anybody else to open it and start making changes whilst you're making yours.
  • 05:35 If that is the case, we do have an option in
  • 05:38 here which we'll find underneath More at the bottom called Checkout.
  • 05:43 So if I checkout this file, it means it's basically locked for my exclusive use.
  • 05:50 Notice now when I hover over this file,
  • 05:53 I get this little arrow icon that says, you checked out this item.
  • 05:58 So what I can now do is I can now maybe open it up.
  • 06:01 Again, I'm going to open it up in a browser.
  • 06:03 I can make my changes.
  • 06:06 And then once I'm done, I can check that file back in,
  • 06:09 which makes it available to everybody again.
  • 06:12 Go to More, and then I can choose Check in.
  • 06:16 I even get the chance to add some comments.
  • 06:18 So maybe I want to say something like,
  • 06:22 changed the presentation title and click Check in.
  • 06:27 So lots of options there on ways that you can work on documents and
  • 06:31 collaborate on documents with your team members.
  • 06:35 The final thing I want to talk to you about in this particular lesson is
  • 06:39 creating Word PowerPoint and Excel documents from directly within teams.
  • 06:44 So effectively we don't actually need to leave teams and
  • 06:48 open up a different app in order to create a document.
  • 06:51 So maybe I want to create a Word document.
  • 06:55 Notice on this Files tab at the top we have a New button.
  • 07:00 So if I click New, I have a few different options.
  • 07:03 I can create a new folder if I want to,
  • 07:06 to give this files area a little bit of structure.
  • 07:09 But I can also create different documents of different types on Word documents,
  • 07:15 Excel workbooks, PowerPoint presentations, OneNote notebooks, even a Visio drawing.
  • 07:21 So if I select Word document, I'm going to be asked for the name.
  • 07:26 So I'm just going to call this presentation script.
  • 07:30 Let's create it.
  • 07:33 And it's basically going to open up Word Online but within the Team's window.
  • 07:38 I can now go through and start editing.
  • 07:41 Notice that the ribbons that we get at the top are the same as the ribbons that you
  • 07:46 would find if you're accessing Word Online through Microsoft 365.
  • 07:50 Now I'm just going to add some junk text into here.
  • 07:53 And as with everything Microsoft 365,
  • 07:56 I don't need to save because my changes are automatically synchronized.
  • 08:01 And this also lends itself to collaboration with other people.
  • 08:05 As soon as you create this document, it's going to appear in the Files tab.
  • 08:11 And as soon as it's there, anybody who has access to these files can simply open
  • 08:16 this document and start making their changes as well.
  • 08:19 So this is co-authoring at its best.
  • 08:23 And it enables you to really work seamlessly with your team members on
  • 08:27 different files and documents.
  • 08:29 Remember also in this menu running across the top,
  • 08:32 aside from creating new documents and folders, we can also upload files and
  • 08:37 folders that we have stored locally, copy links to documents, download.
  • 08:42 And if you don't like the view that you see in here,
  • 08:45 you can change that from here as well to something a bit different.
  • 08:48 So maybe tiles which will give you a preview of the document.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

Gift this course