Best Practices for Distributing Files

When sharing a large file or several small files via email, the message may be blocked due to message size limits on either the sender's or recipient’s email account. Here are a few alternative ways you can share files with others.

1. You can share files via Microsoft Teams with an individual or a team (see https://support.office.com/en-us/article/create-a-staff-team-in-microsoft-teams-314ac9d5-36a9-408e-8ae4-7ef20e9f1ddf  for instructions on creating a team).  To share a file with an individual, start a chat and click on the Attach button below the chat text box. Choose OneDrive to share an existing OneDrive document or upload a new file from your computer. Once you've attached the file, users in the chat can click on it to view or edit it. All users can view, make changes to, and add comments to files simultaneously. Everyone's changes are saved automatically. (Note: Users may be prompted to confirm their account when accessing a file for the first time. Also, files uploaded from your computer will only be synced to OneDrive once the Edit function is used.).
    
2. Save files to your departmental website, if available.  Provide the link to these files in an email message.
   
   
3. Files can be shared via FileLocker. Filelocker allows you to share files with other people both inside and outside of Mississippi State University. It is a temporary and secure storage system for sharing files and data. Please keep in mind that this location is not a permanent location as it is deleted after 14 days. For more information please visit Using Filelocker for File Sharing.
    
4. If you need to share files in a current Canvas course, post the files into the course and email your students or create an announcement that the files are available. See the "Continuing Courses at MSU - Faculty Instructional Technology Resources" KB article for instructions on how to do this.