OneDrive vs SharePoint — What's the Difference?

OneDrive and SharePoint are both cloud file storage tools included with Microsoft 365, but they serve different purposes. Here's how to know which to use. OneDrive — Your personal cloud storage Think of OneDrive as your personal work hard drive in the cloud. - Files stored here are yours — only you can see them by default - Syncs to your PC so files are available offline - 1TB of storage per user (included with most Microsoft 365 plans) - Best for: your own documents, drafts, work-in-progress files you're not ready to share SharePoint — Team file storage and collaboration Think of SharePoint as a shared network drive for your team or company. - Files stored here are accessible to your whole team (based on permissions) - Multiple people can work on the same file simultaneously - Version history is maintained for all files - Best for: shared documents, company-wide files, team projects, files that multiple people need to access How they connect: - When you sync a SharePoint library to your computer, it shows up in File Explorer just like OneDrive — but the files are actually shared with your team - Microsoft Teams stores all its files in SharePoint behind the scenes — when you share a file in Teams, it's in SharePoint Which should I use? - "I'm working on this by myself" → OneDrive - "My team needs to access this" → SharePoint (or a Teams channel) - "I want to share with one specific person temporarily" → OneDrive (share > specific person) Common mistake to avoid: Don't store business-critical shared files in your personal OneDrive. If you leave the company or your account is deleted, those files go with you. Shared files belong in SharePoint/Teams.