Learn How to Upload/Download Documents from SharePoint Online

Easy Way to Upload and Download SharePoint Online Documents

“Can anyone please guide me how can I upload/download documents from SharePoint Online? Actually, I had encountered a problem when I was migrating over 1000 files from a local file share to another MS Office 365 SharePoint. That time I realized that even a small interruption might result in the incomplete process and I had to try it once again from the beginning. Therefore, I started to search for a method to make the task easy, but unable to find any relevant method. Please help.”

Just like the above-mentioned query, there are some problems a user may facing while uploading or downloading documents from SharePoint Online (SPO) or OneDrive. Therefore, we have come up with the solution to import and export document files from SharePoint Online easily.

Upload Documents to SharePoint Online

Follow the steps given below to transfer documents to the cloud:

1. Firstly, you need to open SharePoint site library or OneDrive.
2. Now, click on Upload, which is at the top of the documents library.
3. Once you click on that, a dialog box will appear as Add a document; in this, you need to click on Browse option to upload a single file. You may even upload numerous files by holding down CTRL/Shift key, depending upon the version that you are using.
4. After selecting the files that you wish to upload, then you can click on OK.

Drag files to OneDrive For Business or SharePoint Site library

To begin this, follow these steps:

1. Open SharePoint site library or OneDrive.
2. Now, click on Start & then click on File Explorer option.
3. Go to the folder along with the documents, which you wish to upload.
4. You need to drag the data files in the library of SharePoint where it displays drag files here. It (Library) should display “Drop here” at the time you hover the file over it.
5. See your files in the document library.

To Upload Multiple or Large Files to an Office 365 SharePoint Library

In case, you trying to add multiple files to a library, then it is possible you will encounter some errors due to the limitation of file size in SharePoint. You may also receive timeout errors in Internet Explorer. These are some steps to avoid such errors:

1. First, upload 100/fewer files while using drag & drop method.
2. You need to avoid uploading files, which are larger than 15 GB, in case you are an Office 365/SharePoint Online client.
3. In case your organization keeps a server deployment of SharePoint, you can ask the administrator to check or increase the file size limit to adjust the size of that file you are uploading. The limit can be increased up to 10 GB.
4. Use OneDrive for Business sync client. Sync will upload the files automatically in the background at the time you are online.

Long path and File Names

Be aware with the path & file name length, while uploading files & folders. OneDrive as well as SharePoint for business supports the limit of 400 characters for the entire file & path length. SharePoint Server versions are compatible with maximum 260 characters.

Download Files from SharePoint Online

You can download files and folders from OneDrive to your machine within a few clicks. Follow the steps and complete this process to save the documents from SPO:

1. Firstly, on OneDrive/SharePoint Online website, select the files/folders to save locally.
2. Click on Download after selecting a file.
3. Now, in case your browser prompts you, select Save or Save As option & browse to the desired location where you wish to store the download. Some browsers start storing right away to a Downloads folder on the system.

In case you choose multiple files/folders & after this select the option of Download, then your browser will initiate the process to download a .zip file that contains all the folders as well as files that you have chosen. On the other hand, if you choose Download without choosing the file or folders, the browser will initiate the process to save all the content of the folder. However, apart from this manual solution users can use an alternative method as well.

Office 365 Document Downloader: A Relevant Solution

Security of the data is the main concern of every user or organization. Therefore, to overcome the limitation of manual method users can go for Office 365 Document Downloader tool. This software has the potential to download multiple files from Office 365 SharePoint as well as store the documents library from the account of Microsoft Office 365. The utility comes up with so many different features, some of the major features of the tool is:

• Save the documents of Office 365 in bulk from any account.
• Option to filter to download only the selected data by date option.
• Microsoft Office 365 URL is required to login & download documents.
• Maintains the folders hierarchy & download file of any size.

Final Words

The above blog describes the solution to import documents to SharePoint Online with the method to export documents from Office 365 SharePoint site library. There are many users looking for a relevant method so that they can complete the process along with maintaining the integrity of the data. Therefore, after considering the need of users, we have discussed both the manual as well the automated solution to upload/download documents from SharePoint Online. A third party tool is also described to make the process safe and secure.