One of the amazing features of Microsoft Teams is the ease with which you can share files in the application. You can choose to share with all the members of your team in a jiffy or privately with any member of a team to keep working in perfect harmony. The files can be shared from your computer, or from a supported cloud service on Microsoft Teams.

Another astounding feature of Microsoft Teams is that it also lets you unshare any previously shared files with just as much ease. The unshared files cannot be viewed by anyone once removed.

How to Share a File to a Team

Open the Microsoft Teams app on your desktop or your web browser by going to teams.microsoft.com. By default, you can share the files on your computer, or your Microsoft OneDrive account.

If you want to share files from other cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, ShareFile, you will have to add it to your Teams account. Go to ‘Files’ on the navigation bar on the left.

It will show all the files shared among all your teams. Under Cloud Storage, OneDrive is already added. If you use OneDrive with the Microsoft account currently being used for Teams, all your content of the Drive will be available to be shared in Teams. To use any other cloud service, click on ‘Add cloud storage’ on the lower-left corner of the screen.

A screen will appear with options of cloud services to choose from. Click on the service you want to use. A login window will open. Log in to your account. If the login is successful (the login will only be successful if the same email account is used on both the cloud service and Microsoft Teams), the cloud service will be added and all the files on the cloud would become available for sharing.

Now, go to ‘Teams’ from the navigation bar on the left, select the Team you want to share the file with and then select the Channel to which you want to send the file.

At the bottom of the screen, go to the compose box and click on the ‘Attach’ icon (the paper clip).

A pop-up menu will appear on the screen. You’ll have the option to share a file from already shared files across all teams and channels, OneDrive or other cloud storage services, or upload one from your computer. Select the option of your choice, and then select the file you want to share.

The file will appear in the message box. Wait for it to upload; it will have a green progress bar at the bottom while it’s still uploading. Once the file is uploaded, click on the ‘Send’ button to share the file.

How to Delete a File Sent to a Team

You can also unshare a file you have already shared with a Team. Open the channel you previously shared the file to. To open the channel, go to ‘Teams’ on the navigation bar on the left and then select the channel under the team name.

Now, open the ‘Files’ tab in the channel. Tabs are the quick links at the top of the channels. The ‘Files’ tab has all the files shared on that channel.

Find the file you want to delete from the list of files, and hover your cursor on it. A ‘Show action’ option (three-dots icon) will appear next to the file name. Click on it. Then, from the context menu that appears, select the ‘Delete’ option.

A confirmation message dialogue box will appear on the screen. Click on ‘Yes’ to delete the file.

The file will be deleted from the channel and from the list of all files under the ‘Files’ section on the navigation bar on the left. No one in the team will have access to it anymore.

How to Share Files Privately in Microsoft Teams

The files you share on a channel are shared with all the members of that team. If you don’t want all the members of the team to have access to the file, you can instead share it privately with an individual or a group of individuals.

On the navigation bar on the left, click on ‘Chat’. Open the chat of the contact you want to send the file to, or click on the ‘New Chat’ button on the top to start a chat with a new contact or create a new group. Then in the compose box, click on the ‘Attach’ icon and select the file you want to share. You can only send files from OneDrive or your computer in Private chats.

When the file is uploading, it will have a green progress bar below it. Once the file is uploaded in the message box i.e. the green bar disappears, click on the ‘Send’ button to share the file.

How to Delete a File Sent Privately

The files sent privately can be unshared from within the chat itself. Go to the message with the file you want to unshare, and hover the cursor on it. A string of reaction emojis will appear on top of the message with a ‘More options’ icon (three-dot menu) at the end. Click on it.

A context menu will appear on the screen. Choose the ‘Delete’ option. The message with the file will be deleted from the chat on both ends and the recipient won’t have access to it anymore.

Note: You can also delete the message containing the file as we did above for files shared on a channel, but doing so will only delete the message and not the file. The file will still be available under the ‘Files’ tab and all Files on the navigation bar on the left.

Conclusion

Sharing and unsharing files with the whole team or just some members of a team is effortless in Microsoft Teams. And support for all major cloud storage services such as Dropbox and Google Drive makes it even more convenient to share files in Microsoft Teams.