Learn about where your files live as a North Central University (NCU) student — what belongs in your OneDrive, where files shared in Canvas, Teams, and meetings actually end up, how to keep group project files from disappearing, and what to do before you leave NCU.
OneDrive is home for your files
Your NCU Microsoft 365 account includes OneDrive with 5 TB of storage — cloud storage you can reach from any computer or phone by signing in with your NCU account. Save your papers, notes, and projects there and they're backed up, synced across your devices, and easy to share with classmates.
Everything else in this article is about the places files end up other than your OneDrive — and how to make sure your work doesn't get stuck in one of them.
Where files end up
Where a file is stored depends on how you saved or shared it — not where you were looking at the time. This is where things actually land.
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When you…
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The file is stored in…
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It belongs to…
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Save or upload a file to OneDrive
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Your OneDrive
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You
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Submit an assignment in Canvas
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That Canvas course — a submitted copy, not your working file
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The course
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Use course materials your instructor posted in Canvas
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That Canvas course
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The course
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Share a file in a Teams chat (one-on-one or group)
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The sender's OneDrive, in a folder named Microsoft Teams Chat Files
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Whoever sent it
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Post a file in a Teams channel (a class or student organization team)
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That team's SharePoint site, in the channel's folder
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The team
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Record a Teams meeting
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The meeting organizer's OneDrive — or the team's SharePoint site, for a channel meeting
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The organizer or team
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Anything marked in red isn't yours to keep. If you'll need it later, save your own copy to OneDrive.
Group projects
A group chat is not a shared folder
Every file shared in a Teams group chat is stored in the OneDrive of the person who sent it. A four-person project chat ends up with its files spread across four different OneDrives — and four different versions of the same document.
If a teammate drops the class, leaves NCU, or deletes a file, everything they shared goes with it — sometimes the night before the project is due.
Where projects fall apart
- Everyone drops their own copy into the chat
- Edits get emailed back and forth
- Nobody knows which version is the latest
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What works
- One person creates a project folder in OneDrive and shares it with the group
- Everyone edits the same files at the same time
- Each member saves a final copy of anything they're graded on
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AI tools are not file storage
Whether you can use AI on an assignment is up to your instructor and the course syllabus. Wherever you do use it, the finished work belongs in your OneDrive — not in the chat.
Save your work outside the AI tool
- A conversation isn't a file. If the only copy of your paper lives in a chat history, it's one deleted conversation away from gone.
- Uploading isn't storing. A file you give an AI tool is sent to that company, and with free public tools it can't be taken back.
Where files get lost
Don't let any of these be your only copy
- Your laptop only — a dead battery, spilled coffee, or stolen bag takes everything with it
- A USB drive — easy to lose, easy to break
- Your Canvas submission — it's a copy for your instructor, not your working file
- Your email inbox — emailing a paper to yourself isn't a backup system
Before you leave NCU
Your student Microsoft 365 license is only for current students. When you graduate or leave North Central University, it's replaced with an alumni license that includes email only.
Ends when you leave | What you keep |
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- OneDrive and every file in it
- Teams, including files in class and student organization teams
- Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
| Your NCU email, through Outlook |
Action required: Before you graduate or leave, download anything you want to keep — papers, portfolio work, projects — to your own computer or personal storage. Once your license changes, you can no longer get to your OneDrive or Teams files.
Work for NCU?
Files you create for a student job belong to the university and follow different rules. See Files @ NCU for Employees.