Save to SharePoint Online from desktop Office applications


Save to SharePoint Online from desktop Office applications

While working in Office applications such as Word or PowerPoint, you can save the document directly to a SharePoint library. ​You must be working in Office version 2016 or later and be logged into the desktop app using your @utoronto.ca credentials. To verify you are logged into the right account, open any Office application and look at the upper right corner to see your name. Click on it and make sure it displays @utoronto.ca and not another domain (i.e. @utorcsi.utoronto.ca).

In Office 2019, sites you follow will appear as sources. In Office 2016, you will need to add them.

For O365

  1. Create your document in the desktop Office app.
  2. Select File > Save As > Browse.
  3. In the top address bar, paste in the site URL. Pick the right library and folder to save your document > Save.
  4. Once saved, go to File > Open tab > Sites - University of Toronto. The site you accessed should appear with a list of frequently used sites. 

To pin a file, open it, select File, and click the pin icon to the document's right. To access pinned files, open the Office application. The Recent tab will display pinned items at the top. You can also select the Pinned tab to only view pinned files.

To pin a folder, open the Office application, select Open > Folders > click the pin icon to the right. To access pinned folders, open the Office application, select Open > Folders.

For Office 2016

These steps will create a shortcut to a SharePoint library, folder, or document that can be used from within Office 2016. You only have to do this once.​

APPROACH 1

  1. Create your document in the desktop Office app.
  2. Select File > Save As > Browse.
  3. In the top address bar, paste in the site URL. Pick the right library and folder to save your document.
  4. Once saved, go to File > Open tab > Sites - University of Toronto. The folder you just worked in should appear. Pin it by selecting the pin icon to the right. This will create a shortcut to this folder for future use.

You can pin a folder, library, or document.

APPROACH 2

  1. Go into your SharePoint document library and open a document in the Word client (Office 2016), not the browser. If the library is empty, create a dummy document.  
  2. In Word, go to File > Open tab to find the document you just opened. Pin it by selecting the pin icon to the right. This will create a shortcut to this document. ​To pin a folder, click on Sites - University of Toronto.
  3. Close the document.
  4. When you go to Save As, you should see under Sites, the library you pinned.
  5. Repeat this in Excel, PowerPoint etc.

You can now access your pinned location by selecting Sites - University of Toronto. 

Once you have at least one pinned location you can use it to access other folders/libraries on your site. Double-click the pinned folder, then in the browser pop-up use the path to navigate through the entire site.

Note: In Office 2016, there is no auto-save. In order to save changes to the cloud, you must use the Save button.