Last Updated on April 3, 2023
Do you need to save documents and files directory to SharePoint?
To new users, this may sound obvious and intuitive. But if you think about it, new users, especially those who aren’t as techy as us, will have some questions.
In this article, I’ll show you the easiest way to save a document (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) directly to SharePoint.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents:
In the past, saving a document directly to SharePoint was a major pain (discussed this as the last option).
Fortunately, Microsoft made some updates that made the process a lot easier and more intuitive.
In fact, if you’re logged in to the Microsoft Office app with the same Microsoft account you use for SharePoint, you will see this option right away:
Note: Unfortunately, this only works with the latest Microsoft Office suite version and SharePoint Online only (doesn’t work on the on-premises version).
If you can’t see the option yet, you may have to add the option as a place first. So click on the “Add a Place” button first.
After that, simply connect your Office 365 SharePoint account. You may have to re-enter your username and password to proceed.
Now, once you see the option for SharePoint sites, simply click on “Sites” and choose the site where you want to save the document.
Note: If you can’t see your site here, then you need to go back to SharePoint and follow that site. The system here may not show all the sites you have in your tenant.
Afterwards, you will be able to choose the document library and the specific folder where you want to save the file.
Simple, isn’t it? It’s like saving a document normally on your computer.
Note: For this method, you only need to connect your SharePoint tenant once on a Microsoft Office app. It will then reflect on all the apps you use on your computer.
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If you work with older versions of the Microsoft Office suite and you need to manually save your documents to the SharePoint site, here are the methods you can use:
1. Upload the document directly
You can upload files and documents directly to your SharePoint sites — as long as you have the right permission level to do so.
On a document library, you will see an “Upload” button on the command bar that you can click:
You will then see a file explorer app open so you can select the document you want to upload to the document library.
Related: How to Make Office Files Open in Their Desktop App by Default
If you want a shorter version of this, you can also drag the document directly from a file explorer straight to the document library.
This produces the same result as with the option earlier. Both options require that you save the document first on your computer.
Note: If you want to learn more about uploads, check out this article where I explained more about how to upload files and documents to SharePoint.
If you haven’t actually created the document yet, how about you create the document directly from SharePoint?
In the command bar, you will see a “New” button and a list of documents you can create:
This way, the system automatically saves the document in the document library where you created the new file.
After you select a document type, a new tab will open where you can create the document itself while still being inside SharePoint.
3. Use the OneDrive Sync app
This one is a little similar to uploading a document directly to SharePoint. However, this feels more like copying a document to another folder on your computer.
With the OneDrive Sync app, you will be able to access your OneDrive through a file explorer and copy-paste the document there.
Unfortunately, there’s a little work required here if you didn’t have the client properly set up on your computer yet. Follow the instructions in this guide to get started.
Note: If you’re unfamiliar with OneDrive, I wrote an ultimate beginner’s guide on how to use OneDrive where I discussed it in detail.
4. Upload through the File Explorer app
The modern experience provided the users not only with new looks but also with more intuitive options and methods to do things.
If you’re still using the classic experience, you will see an “Open with Explorer” button right inside the “Library” tab in a document library:
As the name suggests, you will be able to open the document library through a regular file explorer app on your computer and copy-paste documents there.
Note: With the modern experience, this feature isn’t necessary anymore especially when your goal is to save a document. Check here for a classic vs modern experience comparison.
5. Use the “Save as” option
Lastly, if you’re using the on-premises version of SharePoint, then your choice may be to use the save as an option and copy the link of the target site.
First, go to the site where you want to save the document and copy the link:
https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/ExampleTeamSite
Then, on the Microsoft Office app, click on the “Browse” button when saving the document:
From there, paste the link of the site into the address bar, name the document, and click on the “Save” button.
You will see the contents of the site and navigate to the library and folder where you want to save the document.
After saving the document, you will then be able to see it on the document library of the site where you saved it.
As you can see, there are various ways to save a document to SharePoint. The easiest one is to save it directly to SharePoint right inside the Microsoft Office app.
Unfortunately, it only works for SharePoint Online and on the new Microsoft Office suite. It’s not available on older versions.
The good news, is there are other ways to go around it — like using the upload function on SharePoint to save your document from your computer.
Do you have any questions regarding how to save a document to SharePoint? If you do, please share them in the comment section below.
For inquiries and other concerns, kindly use the site’s contact form to reach out and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
