What is OneDrive?

OneDrive is used to store your files, with the following additional benefits:

Your files are accessible while away from the school - at home, on your personal computer, on your phone, or from anywhere in the world that has internet access (via https://onedrive.com).
Works with personal devices too, including smartphones
Works with Apple/Mac devices
Infinite storage space - You'll never need to delete files to free up space, and you can use the Files on Demand feature (see below) to decide which files are always stored on your device, and which are downloaded automatically when you open them.
Built-in backups - Your files are automatically backed up, and its even possible to recover older versions of your files
Self-service file restoration - No need to involve IT, you can recover lost or deleted files yourself via the OneDrive website (https://onedrive.com). The OneDrive website also allows you to restore previous versions of your files, if you've accidentally saved over something important.
Files On-Demand - See section below
Your OneDrive moves with you automatically if you move to a different school, no Help Desk ticket required.
You can edit video from your OneDrive. Since OneDrive saves active files on your computer, and synchronizes them when they're modified, its much easier to work on video files without worrying that a dropped WiFi connection will corrupt your file.
You can share documents and files easily with others and control how much access you give them

Files On-Demand

With Files On-Demand, your files are only downloaded to your device when you open them, and files that you don't use often can be physically stored in the cloud, freeing up hard drive space until you need them.

You will see several icons beside your files, indicating if they are stored on your device, available to be downloaded, or if you've set them to be always available on your device.

Online-only files

Online-only file

This icon means that the file is currently stored in the "cloud", and will be automatically downloaded to your device if you try to open the file.

You'll need an Internet connection to download these files.

Locally-available files

Locally available file

This icon indicates a file that has been downloaded to your device. If you open an Online-only file, its icon will change to a green check mark to indicate that the file is downloaded to your computer, and is ready to be used.

When you save a file,

You don't need an Internet connection to open these files - they will automatically synchronize any changes as soon as an Internet connection is available.

Always available files

Always available file

This icon indicates that you have set this file to always be available. These files do not require an Internet connection to open, and are not automatically cleaned up if you Free up space (see below)

Freeing up space

If you need to free up hard drive space, you can have OneDrive clean up the downloaded copies of your files, making them into "Online" files which get downloaded automatically the next time you open them.

Just right click a file or a folder, and select Free up space, and it will synchronize those files and store them in the cloud, and then remove the copies of those files that are stored on your computer. This does not delete your files, just the downloaded versions of them that are using up space on your computer. Please note that this only work with folders that are synced with OneDrive. For example the "Users" folder will not work with this as it is a local folder only

The next time you need that file, double click it and it will download to your device.

This is perfect for storing files that you don't need to access often, such as large folders of photos or video.

Sharing Files

If you need to share a document to work on collaboratively, or a student needs to "hand in" a document for marking, it's easy to do

Right click the file and choose Share

Click “Only the people you specify who have this link can edit”

Uncheck the “Allow editing” box if you only want people to be able to see your document

Choose Apply

Fill in the email address of who you want to share with and hit Send

Potential downsides to OneDrive

Internet access is required to sync files. Files that are already on your machine will work without an Internet connection, and changes you make will sync up the next time a connection is made.
Large files can take time to sync
Teachers can’t access student’s OneDrives. If teachers are used to going into student’s home folders to pull out assignments, they would have to find another way (such as Google Classroom, or the built-in LMS features of our new provincial SIS system)
Can take about 2-3 minutes to set up on an initial login to a given computer. Not as much of an issue for staff or anyone using the same computer day to day.

How do I access my OneDrive?

On a school computer

On school division computers, OneDrive will show up in File Explorer, on the left-hand side, where other drives would also be.

If you've signed into a computer for the first time, it will take 2-3 minutes for OneDrive to automatically install and configure itself.

Your Living Sky OneDrive will always show up as OneDrive - Living Sky School Division.

On a personal device

Installing OneDrive at home

If you have Windows 11 on your device, you should already have the OneDrive client installed.

Search your start menu for "OneDrive", and launch it
When prompted to sign in, sign in using your "@lskysd.ca" email address as the username, and use your Living Sky password (the same as you would use to check your email or sign into a school computer)
Your LSKYSD OneDrive should now be available from home

OneDrive website

On any internet-enabled computer, open a web browser (such as Chrome or Firefox) and go to: https://onedrive.live.com/

Sign in with your "@lskysd.ca" email address as the username, and your Living Sky password (the same as you would use to check your email or sign into a school computer)

Apple / Mac computers

Follow these instructions to download and install the OneDrive client for mac: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/sync-files-with-the-onedrive-sync-client-on-mac-os-x-d11b9f29-00bb-4172-be39-997da46f913f

Then, sign in with your "@lskysd.ca" email address as the username, and your Living Sky password (the same as you would use to check your email or sign into a school computer)

SmartPhones (Android / iPhone / Windows Phone)

Find OneDrive in the App Store / Google Play store, and install it.

Then, sign in with your "@lskysd.ca" email address as the username, and your Living Sky password (the same as you would use to check your email or sign into a school computer)

What if I use a personal OneDrive account?

OneDrive will work with multiple accounts at a time, and it will not overwrite your personal OneDrive account.

If you sign into more than one OneDrive account on a computer, they will both show up in File Explorer as separate entities (see image to the side).

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