ONE-Net share drives will be going away in favor of FlankSpeed SharePoint. We don't have a timeline, but we (ITRs) have slowly been losing the ability to manage them. As a result, we now have to reach out to ONE-Net to add users to the correct security groups. This will increase turnaround for tickets regarding share permissions. To mitigate this, we recommend you work with your team to move your share files to FlankSpeed SharePoint. Note: each SharePoint site is limited to 100GB.
Create a FlankSpeed Group
To move to SharePoint, you must first create a FlankSpeed (M365) group. If you already have one, skip to "Using the SharePoint" section below. Otherwise, the following instructions guide you through creating a FlankSpeed group.
- Log into the FlankSpeed Portal and open Outlook on the Web.
- Click the down-arrow beside the "New Mail" button and choose "Group".
- Type in a name for your group and change the email address to something acceptable to you and your team. Note that some commands may require a specific naming convention. Please check before committing as this cannot be changed after creation.
Creating this FlankSpeed group will create:
- A shared Outlook mailbox from which you can receive emails and manage a calendar,
- A SharePoint site from where you can share files, and
- A potential Teams team, where you can chat and collaborate.
Note that if you would like to use the potential Team, you will need to "activate" it separately in Teams.
Using the SharePoint
Now that the group and therefore the SharePoint site has been created, you can start to use it! You can access the shared files three different ways:
- through File Explorer via the OneDrive agent on your computer [recommended],
- through an internet browser via the FlankSpeed Portal, and
- through the Teams app on your computer.
Sync SharePoint to your Computer
We recommend you sync your group's SharePoint site's Documents folder so that it is available on your computer as if it was just another folder. This mimics the old network share drive experience with which you should already be familiar.
- Go to the FlankSpeed Portal and open SharePoint.
- Open your group's SharePoint site and click "Documents". If you can't see your SharePoint site on the SharePoint home page, search for it in the search bar.
- Ensure that you are signed into OneDrive on your computer opening the System Tray and clicking the OneDrive icon. If you are signed in, it will look like below. If not, you will get a sign in box.
- Go back to SharePoint and click the "Sync" button. You may see an "Add shortcut to OneDrive" button, we recommend NOT using that method.
- A popup may show asking if you will allow SharePoint to open OneDrive. Click "Open".
- A OneDrive window will open and then close. After that you will see a folder in File Explorer under "US Navy-flankspeed" for each group you decide to sync.
A word of caution regarding shared excel files: The version of Excel currently installed on ONE-Net is not completely compatible with SharePoint. As such, there is some instability with saving files - especially if you have more than one person editing the file. Our recommendation would be to use the Excel Online program to view and edit these files when using a ONE-Net computer unless absolutely necessary or when ONE-Net finally updates their version of Office.
Use SharePoint on the Web
Just like you might use Outlook on the Web through an internet browser, you can do the same with SharePoint. Just follow the above instructions for "Syncing SharePoint to your Computer" until Step 2. You can then open files on the Web using Office Online or download them if you are on a DoD computer. Note: Excel Online is our recommended method of using Excel files shared on SharePoint when on a ONE-Net computer.
SharePoint through Teams
If you have "activated" your group's Teams team, you can access your SharePoint files from within the Teams app. Just open the Team and choose any channel. Then click "Files".
As you can see, every channel gets its own folder under the Documents folder of your group's SharePoint site and the Files tab of a Team brings you to that folder. Note that if you create a "Private" channel, it creates its own SharePoint site.