One of the new features of Office 365 is the way file attachments are handled when you make use of your included OneDrive cloud storage or when someone that has OneDrive shares a file with you.
When composing a new message, and you click Attach, you’ll see something similar to what is shown below, with your OneDrive files as the first option. If you select a file on your computer, it will offer to upload it to OneDrive for you in the next step.
Once you select a file you will asked the following:
- If you choose Attach as a OneDrive file, the recipient will receive a link to the file with a notification that you shared it. This is extremely handy as most email providers have an email size limit.
- Selecting Attach as a copy will result in a traditional file attachment where the file is included with the email itself, but may be subject to attachment size limits.
While the first option is more flexible in terms of storage space and not being rejected due to a size limitation, not everyone is accustomed to attaching files via cloud storage, so your recipient may be confused or suspicious of your file’s link. Be prepared to explain in a followup e-mail what it is or be clear in your first email that it is a link to your file.
For those on the receiving end, an attachment from OneDrive will look similar to this:
As always, make sure that any files you receive are from someone you know and something that you may be expecting.