In the rest of this article, I’m going to refer to OneDrive for Business and Sites collectively as SharePoint Online, because they’re both based on the same backend server technology and sync client. The technology is very similar to OneDrive for Business, and the sync client is the same, but adds a host of other collaboration features that are not included in OneDrive for Business. But Microsoft’s solution for sharing documents with a team of people is Sites, which is sometimes referred to as SharePoint Online. At this point it’’ worth mentioning Office 365 Sites, because although OneDrive for Business is based on SharePoint, it’s intended for use as personal storage, with the ability to share documents when needed. In OneDrive versus OneDrive for Business on Petri, I ran through some fundamental differences between the two products, including the two separate sync clients. OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or Sites (SharePoint Online)

This avoids the issue of multiple versions of files being distributed among team members by email or removable storage, where no one is quite sure which version is most current. One source of truth is based around the idea of using cloud storage for hosting master copies of your files and maintaining up-to-date versions in one place, even if other copies of the same files are edited offline or across different devices.

For more information on what’s new with Office 365 Groups, see New Features in Office 365 Groups on the Petri IT Knowledgebase. Microsoft has recently been evangelizing its ‘one source of truth’ paradigm, alongside Office 365 Groups, and the ability to send Modern Attachments directly from OneDrive for Business using Outlook 2016 Preview or the online version of Outlook. That’s certainly the case when it comes to cloud file storage, because there’s nothing more inefficient than emailing files to colleagues or partners - especially when that involves multiple edits by a team over a period of time. Habits can be hard to break, but sometimes it’s worth learning to do something differently if it makes life easier. In this article, you’ll learn why you should avoid the OneDrive for Business sync client and look at some alternative synchronization solutions.

Expandrive alternative