SHARED FOLDERS – USAGE POLICY

IT DEPARTMENT

Created By:
Artan Mehmeti
Group Folders
Group folders can only be created and managed by the administrator. Most companies will create a
Group Folder for each individual team or department (i.e. Marketing, Support, Engineering).

Administrators can create and manage these folders. Upon creating your site, your first Group folder
was created using your domain to name it. This is where you can move docs that your entire
organization needs access to, such as HR docs or a company wide chat channel.

Shared Folders
Shared folders can be created and managed by any user. Shared folders are simply a collection of
documents or sub-folders shared with at least one other person.

You can create a Shared Folder by selecting the new item icon in the top right of your window and
then choosing “New Folder”. You will need to add new members to a shared folder manually. This
allows you to share content with a select group, rather than an entire site or an entire team. For
example, a cross-functional events committee planning a team offsite could create a shared folder
for all events related docs.

Documents
Private Folder
Each user has a private folder. The private folder is your dedicated space within your account. Any
documents you create there will be private to you until you explicitly add individuals to the document.
Unlike other folders, you are the only member of this folder. Note: Even if you add more members to
a document or folder in your Private folder, this document or folder will remain in your Private folder
section.

Trash Folder
When you delete a document, you will see this document in your Trash Folder. Note: we will
automatically and permanently delete any content that is in your Trash Folder after 30 days.
Map Network Drives or Shared
Folders Using Group Policy in 8
Easy Steps
Mapping network drives is a common task for system administrators. One option is to create a
batch script that runs every time the workstation starts. But there is a simpler and more
convenient method: using Group Policy. Mapping network drives via Group Policy is faster and
easier, so it is a much more scalable approach.

Here is a step-by-step guide for Group Policy drive mapping:

Step #1. On a Microsoft Windows Server with the Active Directory role installed, open the
Group Policy Management

Step #2. Create a new GPO and give it a name. Then link it to an OU that contains user accounts
because Group Policy drive mapping is a user configuration preference. You can also select an
option – create a GPO in this domain and link it here, after that use item-level targeting option
which will be described below.
Step #3. Right-click the new Group Policy object and go to User Configuration -> Preferences ->
Windows Settings -> Drive Maps.

Step #4. Right-click Drive Maps, select New and then click the Mapped Drive
Step #5. Then you need to configure the settings for the new mapped drive. Here are the options
on the General tab:

o Action — Select an action that will be performed on the shared drives:

o Create — creates a new mapped drive for users.
o Delete — deletes a mapped drive for users.
o Replace — deletes and then creates mapped drives for users.
o Update — modifies settings of an existing mapped drive for users. This action
differs from Replace in that it only updates settings and don’t delete
o Location — Specify the path to the shared folder or drive that you want to map.
o Reconnect — Check this option if you want to save the mapped drive in the user’s
settings and reconnect it each time they log on.
o Label as — Specify a custom name for the shared drive. (You can leave this field blank.)
o Drive Letter — Specify the letter you want the drive to be mapped to. Be careful,
because if the workstation is already using the letter you choose here, the Group Policy
drive mapping will fail.
o Connect as — If this setting is blank, the drive will be mapped using the current user
account credentials. You can choose to specify a different account here that will be used
instead.
 o Hide/Show options — You can also choose to connect the new drive (or all drives) in a
hidden state.

Step #6. Click the Common tab to configure these additional settings for all items:

•
o Stop processing items in this extension if an error occurs
o Run in the security context of the user who is currently logged on
o Remove this item when it is no longer applied
o Apply once and do not reapply
o Item-level targeting (see step 7)
Step #7. Item-level targeting allows you to apply drive mappings in a very flexible way. For
example, you could apply a drive mapping only to a certain OU and the users and computers in
it, or only to a certain IP address range. If you enable item-level targeting, click
the Targeting button to open the Targeting Editor. Click New Item and select the type of item
that you want to apply the new shared drive mapping policy to. The screenshot below shows how
to select Organizational Unit and then choose the specific users or computers in that OU.
Click OK to close the Targeting Editor.
Step #8. To apply the policy, either reboot the target computers or run gpupdate /force on them.
Alternatively, you can go to Group Policy Management, right-click the target OU, and then
click Group Policy Update.

Now, whenever a user logs on to any of the targeted computers, the new network drive will be
shown in their file explorer.

Conclusion
As you can see, mapping a network drive via Group Policy is a very easy process and doesn’t
require any PowerShell scripting experience. It is the best way to assign network drives to your
users in a centralized manner, and makes troubleshooting easier — for example, you can simply
use gpresult rather than writing logon scripts.