While the IT Help Desk is always here to answer your questions, we sometimes get questions by other means; either by email or by talking to you from day to day. We’d like to answer some of those questions by reaching into our mailbag!
I have been here six years in May. I have used Box, Google Docs, the network V drive, Microsoft 365 OneDrive, and my hard drive to store files. I am confused where I should be placing files and folders.
We certainly don’t have a shortage of storage solutions available, and it can be overwhelming to decide which one is best for your uses! Of course, you’ll always want to follow your department’s guidelines for file storage and retention, but if you’re trying to make those guideline decisions, here’s a quick summary of our available services.
First, Google Docs, while used by some of our vendors, is not an SMU-supported service like our other services we subscribe to. It’s totally fine for personal storage, but be mindful of what you place there for business use.
Network Drives (V:, U:, T:, etc.)
The network drives that are mapped to your computer when you log in are storage areas that reside locally on our network at the University Data Center. Here’s a summary of the drive letters and their primary function:
| U Drive | personal file storage space available to all employees and students. Allows for 5GB of storage accessed by the individual user only. |
|---|---|
| V Drive | Departmental storage space. Folders allow individual members within a specific department to store and share information. This is not designed for cross departmental storage or sharing. |
| T Drive | Designed for cross departmental storage and sharing for various Teams. |
| Q Drive | Used primarily by SMU Financial users |
| L Drive | Used for Building Managers and disaster recovery information |
These network drives are used depending on your department’s work needs. The U drive is your personal storage space, but with the abundance of storage space in the cloud, you may want to consider those options, instead.
Box
Box is a secure, intuitive cloud storage service that we’ve used at SMU for many years. You can store files just for you, or share with anyone inside or outside of SMU. Personally, I like Box for it’s simplicity, huge storage capacity (pretty much unlimited) and the collaboration tools like using Office Online apps to edit documents, the Box Notes notetaking feature, and quick sharing with others. It’s also usable on your mobile devices with the Box app. You can also request departmental Box spaces for your whole department, similar to a T drive, but in the cloud!
OneDrive
OneDrive is very similar to Box but is included and tightly integrated with our Microsoft 365 service. You may want to use this if you are frequently working in Microsoft Office files, especially when collaborating with others. It also has mobile apps that are very good, and the storage is very generous. Some of you may notice that OneDrive works a lot like SharePoint…that’s because it basically is! OneDrive for Business is an offshoot of SharePoint, but we still have regular SharePoint as an option, too.
Additional information on these storage options are available on our Network Storage service page. If you’d like some more guidance on which service is the best for your needs, let the IT Help Desk know and we can point you in the right direction.
Now here’s our next question:
I have a task list in Excel and I want to know if it’s possible to apply Conditional Formatting based on dates.Yes! It’s entirely possible to do have your spreadsheet update dates for those past due tasks or project milestones you’re about to hit. Dennis Taylor, one of LinkedIn Learning’s Excel subject matter experts, issues a new tip weekly. For this question, we’ll let him give a demo.Conditional formatting based on date proximity from Excel Tips Weekly by Dennis Taylor
Got a question you would like us to feature? Email ittraining@smu.edu.
