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OneDrive for Business without M365

Copper Contributor

Can I get OneDrive for business without getting a M365 subscription and the members in the group will still have the ability to access, add, save, remove files?  Basically, we want it to act like a network drive that we can all access without having to share each document.  I can't find any information on that and am not quite sure what to search and figure this was as good a place as any since you OneDrive for business already.

 

Thanks for any information you can provide.

 

 

4 Replies
Just look up the OneDrive for Business plan options for your country. There are plans that do not include Office365 (although the price difference is negligible).

Note that by sharing a OneDrive account you miss out on collaboration and versioning options (ie who do what to which document). What you really need is a SharePoint library, as OneDrive is a SharePoint library designed for one user.

@Mike Williams  Thanks for your quick reply.  I did look at the various business options and they are available without M365 and I can get the number of licenses I need (3-5).  I did see the pricing is close to the same but everyone already has their own email/programs etc with their work or family plans so the whole M365 subscription isn't needed.  However, I couldn't find any documentation indicating that if we get the OneDrive business licenses without M365 we would all be able to access the same files without having to share each item.  Based on your response, would we be able to use the same Sharepoint library if we all have a license on the same OneDrive account.  I sent a question to MS but haven't heard anything in a week.  I appreciate your response, thanks.

best response confirmed by DeDeLC (Copper Contributor)
Solution
There are quite a lot of articles on the web about this scenario e.g. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/multiple-users-on-a-single-one-drive-library/...

SharePoint is not part of OneDrive so you don't get that option without an appropriate M365 license.

Basically giving the same login details to multiple users is a license violation on top of usage issues created by not being able to track which instance of the one user did what when.
Thanks Mike, I didn't know what to search so your linked article really helps. I definitely don't want to share logins, I'm never for that for both the problems you mentioned. Hope you have a good week!
1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by DeDeLC (Copper Contributor)
Solution
There are quite a lot of articles on the web about this scenario e.g. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/multiple-users-on-a-single-one-drive-library/...

SharePoint is not part of OneDrive so you don't get that option without an appropriate M365 license.

Basically giving the same login details to multiple users is a license violation on top of usage issues created by not being able to track which instance of the one user did what when.

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