How to Set Up and Use Microsoft OneDrive on a Mac

Find out how to take advantage of the file storage features of OneDrive on your Mac and work together with files shared across platforms.

Business use Microsoft OneDrive to handle file shares across locations and users and offer employee the capability to collaborate better across several platforms such as Windows, iOS, iPadOS, Android and macOS. The majority of organizations soaked in the Microsoft environment select OneDrive since it works so well with Workplace 365 and Windows.

For lots of business users, OneDrive is built into Windows 11 and available by default, but on Macs, there are some actions you’ll need to require to get up and keeping up OneDrive. We’ll stroll through these in this article and get OneDrive working in the Finder, so you can collaborate with other OneDrive users and quickly save your files in the cloud.

Dive to:

Developing an account and downloading OneDrive

The initial step to establishing OneDrive is getting an account. If your company uses OneDrive for Business, use your existing work e-mail login and you need to have access to the needed account.

PREMIUM: OneDrive Cloud Use Policy.

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If you’re utilizing OneDrive for personal usage, you’ll require to develop an account by heading to the Microsoft OneDrive page and signing up for free– the complimentary version gives you 5GB of cloud storage. Once you have an account, download the software and set up the app on the Mac.

With account qualifications in hand, download the OneDrive app for Mac. The simplest way to get OneDrive is if your company enables the Mac App Shop; you can go to the OneDrive page on the Mac App Shop and download and install the app with one click.

Another way to download and install the app is by checking out the OneDrive download page and clicking Download. Be sure to visit this page on your Mac, so it downloads for the appropriate platform.

Establishing OneDrive on Mac

Once you’ve downloaded the software, open the installer from your Downloads folder– named OneDrive.pkg— and follow along in the OneDrive installer (Figure A).

SEE: Prevent these common mistakes when running OneDrive on Apple gadgets.

Figure A

When established through the installer, OneDrive will be available to all users of the Mac. Image: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic After setting up the software application, you’ll see a OneDrive icon in the Applications folder on your Mac. Double-click to open the app. At the first screen in the Set Up OneDrive program (Figure B), enter your account’s email address and click the Check in button

. Figure B

Enter your email and continue through the setup assistant to finish configuring OneDrive. Image: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic Follow the setup assistant through the very first few screens, answering the questions about your account. The screen for Your OneDrive Folder shows the place that will be used to store your synced folders and files. You can alter it to a different place by clicking the button entitled Change Location; otherwise, click Next (Figure C).

Figure C

OneDrive provides the choice of altering the default area of your OneDrive sync folder. Image: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic The next couple of screens supply basic details on how to set up and utilize OneDrive. Click Next at each screen. At the Get The Mobile App screen, click the Later button– you can always download the iOS or

Android app another time. SEE: Here’s how to utilize Microsoft OneDrive on your iOS or Android gadget. At the last setup screen, click the button to Open OneDrive Folder. If you’ve currently been using OneDrive on a Windows computer system or other

device, your synced folders and files will begin appearing in the OneDrive folder on your Mac. If not, then the folder will consist of a couple of default folders and files(Figure D). Figure D Your OneDrive folder will be contributed to the sidebar of the Finder to quickly find the folder at any time. Image

: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic Customizing your OneDrive setup Next, you’ll wish to personalize OneDrive on your Mac to make it work the way you anticipate. Click the OneDrive menu bar icon on top right of the screen, then pick the Preferences button from the window that appears (Figure E).

Figure E

You can see what OneDrive is

presently doing or alter preferences from the menu bar. Image: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic General preferences Some of the

General preferences you’ll want to think about toggling consist of: Open at Login: OneDrive immediately begins each time you sign into your Mac. Hide Dock icon: You can opt to conceal or not conceal the Dock icon and choose if you require to see notifications about sharing or modifying.
Alert me before my files I erased are eliminated from the cloud: This can operate as a preventative measure against unintentional file removals.

You’ll also wish to choose whether to use Files On-Demand. With this choice switched on, any folders and files synced through OneDrive are saved online however not saved on your Mac. Any such file from OneDrive is downloaded to your computer just when you require to access it.

The benefit here is that you minimize disk area. The drawback is that you need to be online to access your files. If your Mac is low on storage, you might want to keep Files On-Demand made it possible for.

To make sure that files are downloaded to your Mac and not saved just in the OneDrive cloud:

1. Open the Preferences section of the OneDrive app from the menu bar.

2. Click the button to Download files as you utilize them (recommended) (Figure F).

Figure F

A lot of users will wish to ensure their files are saved and synced between their Mac and OneDrive cloud. Image: Cory Bohon/TechRepublic 3. Click the button for Download all OneDrive files now, and all of your OneDrive files will be downloaded to your Mac. Account preferences Under the Account section for Preferences, you can see the name of your OneDrive account and how much area your OneDrive files are using in the cloud. Here, you can select where your files are stored on your gadget. To do so: 1. Click the Pick Folders button. This section shows you which folders are being synced between your Mac and your cloud storage.

2. Select or deselect any folder or file (Figure G). Any that you deselect will be eliminated from your Mac and stored just online. You may wish to deselect any folders you don’t require on your Mac but want to keep in OneDrive.

Figure G

Being able to choose which folders are synced to your Mac