Microsoft Teams is a great tool for collaborating with your work teams, but it’s also a great platform to share documents. However, managing documents can be a complex task if you haven’t set up your Microsoft Teams properly. Here are some tips to easily manage your documents in Microsoft Teams.

1- The Name of the Channel Affects the Name of the Files

When you create a new channel in Teams, the SharePoint site associated with that Teams channel will automatically create a file in the documents section, which will have the same name as the channel you just created. Additionally, all documents shared in discussion threads can be accessed by all users in your Teams.

2- Backends for Discussions are Different from Team Conversations

The backend for a team is a SharePoint site; while a conversation occurs in your OneDrive. However, OneDrive manages chat files, and can only be accessed by people in that chat, while files shared in team chat threads are available to all members of that team.

3- Manage Your Permission Links in Teams

Once you’ve uploaded a document to a team or conversation, it becomes a SharePoint object. This means that you will have the same sharing and permission options in Teams as in SharePoint and OneDrive. So, if you copy a link in Teams, you get the same basic SharePoint link settings as anywhere else in Microsoft 365. This is where the security of your data can be impacted, and it all depends on the permissions you have set. Sent and shared links make documents accessible to anyone with these links.

4- You Can Manage Teams Documents from Your Computer

If you prefer to use traditional document management, and avoid going through the Teams platform, you can. All you have to do is go to the channel in question, click on “documents” and then open SharePoint. This will guide you to the appropriate button in SharePoint, and you will be able to sync documents in that same window. You can also sync Teams files entirely on your desktop if you’d rather manage everything outside of the Microsoft Teams app.

In short…

You can manage you’re the documents coming from Microsoft Teams more or less as you like; however, it is necessary to know how the management of these documents works. If you want to learn more about Microsoft Teams, contact one of our experts, or take a dedicated Teams training course.