Information Technology Group » Faculty » OneDrive For Business

OneDrive For Business

ITG has activated Microsoft’s OneDrive for all members of Columbia Business School. OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage service and is part of our MS Office 365 implementation. Store your documents, pictures, and other files safely and access them from any device connected to the Internet. This feature provides Business School faculty and staff with an initial allocation of 5 TB (terabytes) of individual cloud storage that can be used for documents, backups, collaboration and file sharing, and other lawful uses. As the need arises, storage allocation can be expanded to unlimited storage. You can upload files up to 10GB in size, and it keeps a number of prior versions of your files, which allows you to revert in case of an unwanted edit/delete.

Here are a few examples of uses for OneDrive:

  • Online file storage
  • Sync to all of your computers/phones
  • Mobile access to files
  • Share single documents or folders to anyone (internal / external to CBS)
  • Encrypt files in transit and in the cloud

Logging in:

The CBS version of OneDrive (the formal product name is OneDrive for Business) should not to be confused with the retail versions of OneDrive, which can be joined up for free on the web. To log in to our version, you will need to go to the same portal as our Outlook Web Access (https://mail.gsb.columbia.edu).

  • OneDrive authenticates off of your GSB credentials, so you will need to log in with the same username and password that you do for online email. Once in the portal, click the Office 365 icon in the top left hand corner (looks like nine stacked dots), and select the OneDrive icon.

Also, you can download a desktop application that will allow you to do automatic syncing of the contents of your OneDrive.

Other CBS File Storage Options

CBS’ OneDrive offers faculty and staff an additional tool for file storage and sharing of files. The existing personal and shared w: drive(aka space) storage has historically serviced as the single or primary collaborative storage for most departments. The individual w: drive storage is  used to store data or information that is not essentially needed by others in a group, while the shared w: drive files serve as a repository for all departmental information that is accessible to all for historical purposes as well as in the event a colleague separates from the School. For now, the individual and shared drives will continue to serve this purpose. OneDrive and Dropbox for Business (additional yearly cost) are supplemental storage options. When storing data or information on these supplemental tools, we encourage you to speak to your manager and departmental teams to ensure it’s appropriate and follows the information storage policies followed by your teams.


For questions or concerns, please contact your respective support organization: