Do you fear losing your files, especially if something happens to your computer or even worse, your flash drive?  Saving files to the cloud is always a great backup and even better, it’s automated.  Lamar CISD provides all staff and students cloud storage through OneDrive

Benefits

  • Files are always backed up
  • You can have access to files from almost any internet enable device
  • It’s easier to share files, especially if they’re large files
  • Files still act as if they’re saved to your computer
  • You have access to over 1 TB (terabyte) of cloud space (that’s equal to 1,000 GB).

How to take advantage of this service in 3 steps.

  1. After you have logged into your Office 365 account with your district credentials, click on the OneDrive icon.
  2. Just below the big ‘Documents’ work, click on the Sync icon. You may need to provide permission or allow it to open a OneDrive program.  You also may need to login again. Image001
  3. Go through the window prompts as directed. Eventually a blue cloud will pop up in your taskbar near the clock.  Your computer is now syncing to your OneDrive account.Image002

Locating your OneDrive folder on your computer

See the image below.  Open the File Explorer program (where you often see your files) located on your computer.  If you save your files from your computer to the folder labeled ‘OneDrive – Lamar Consolidated ISD’ folder (or its subfolders), then they’re being backed up to the cloud.image003

Copying Older Files to your OneDrive folder

If you have many files or large files to move to your OneDrive folder, move those files in smaller pieces.  I usually move one folder at a time and then let it finish syncing.  A successful sync is shown by a green circle with a check mark in on the folder. image004

Sync Options

OneDrive can help you save space on your computer by giving you “access” to some of your files but not necessarily fully storing them on your computer. OneDrive calls this their “Files On Demand” option.  In this case, your files get temporarily downloaded so you can work on them, and then re-saved to the cloud. You can tell how files and folders are being saved based of the symbol located under the ‘Status’ column.  Below is what those symbols mean.OneDriveSyncingLevels

One disadvantage of this service is that if you don’t have internet access it’s difficult to work on your files.  However, one advantage of this is that if you’re running out of room on your computer, this is a great option to save space. You can change this option so all your files, or at least certain folders, save to your computer AND are backed up to the cloud.

  1. Click on your new blue cloud by your clock
  2. Click on the More button (the 3 dots) at the bottom of the pop screen
  3. Click on Settings
  4. In the new window, click on the Settings tab and uncheck the box as seen below

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Great Info Link

For more information on how this feature works and other OneDrive information, click here for the full low down.

Happy syncing! And welcome to the cloud!