Author Topic: dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365  (Read 1174 times)

dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365
« on: 06 December, 2020, 05:01:11 pm »
My wife needs her computer to be simple to operate.  She uses a Mac as they are more reliable given her body electric field.

For many years we have used dropbox as her default cloud storage and she generally knew to always choose dropbox as her place to save.  It was not foolproof and things did end up in documents, etc.

Now word on the Mac makes it very difficult to use dropbox as it is not a place and requires extra steps.  Also autosave is not available unless using OneDrive.  As far as I can see the only sensible option for her is to use OneDrive as her default and stop using dropbox.

Am I missing something?  Is there anything else I can do within the constraints of Word on the the Mac?

ian

Re: dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365
« Reply #1 on: 06 December, 2020, 05:51:18 pm »
I'm not sure what you mean, you can put the dropbox folder anywhere (even in documents) and also make it the default save-to folder in Word. OneDrive will, of course, do the same. It's much of a muchness.

Re: dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365
« Reply #2 on: 06 December, 2020, 06:26:19 pm »
On the mac with the microsoft 365 subscription you cannot make dropbox the default save to folder.  The save as for default only works with one drive folders.

ian

Re: dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365
« Reply #3 on: 06 December, 2020, 06:36:25 pm »
Hmm, mine only does that when I'm working with a file that's already on OneDrive. Otherwise it defaults to the last local folder. There indeed isn't a default folder option now.

There's no reason she can't just use OneDrive.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365
« Reply #4 on: 06 December, 2020, 07:36:22 pm »
If you don't need to use OneDrive, the easiest option is to not have it installed. Then it can't force it on you as a save location.*

Otherwise, you have to select the 'On my mac' button in the save dialog box then choose your dropbox folder - to make life slightly easier, drag your dropbox folder to the Favourites on the sidebar in the Finder window so it's available as a shortcut.


*ETA: just checked and I might be wrong on that - if you remove OneDrive from your computer, it tries to force you to save to OneDrive online instead... Ugh. Annoying.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

ian

Re: dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365
« Reply #5 on: 07 December, 2020, 09:32:28 am »
Hmm, I don't have OneDrive installed, I just use the online version as a dumping ground for archiving files I've done with. But on both my machines (I just checked), Word attempts to save in the last location I've used, be it online or local.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365
« Reply #6 on: 07 December, 2020, 10:24:21 am »
on both my machines (I just checked), Word attempts to save in the last location I've used, be it online or local.

That's how it works on my iMac, which has never had the OneDrive desktop app installed (not since I wiped it and re-installed the OS, at least) - if I select 'online locations' when I save a document, the list is empty, even though I have OneDrive as part of my work Office account.

On my MacBook, which did have the OneDrive app installed at one time, the save dialog box always defaults to OneDrive/online, as per Chris's experience, and I can't see a way to change it. I think what Chris says is correct - setting a desktop folder as the default save location is not possible on a Mac. Also, you can make Dropbox a 'place', but again only on Windows machines. As any long-term Mac/Office user will know, it's no surprise that Mac users don't get the same range of options as Windows users.

Microsoft's official reasoning for making OneDrive the default save location is to "make our lives easier". In fact, it's them covering their arses after a bug in Windows was causing people to lose their documents.

One thing I would recommend, though I don't know if it makes any practical difference, is to download the Office apps from the App Store rather than from Microsoft. This means you only have to download the specific apps you want individually - iirc, if you download from Microsoft, you have to install the whole suite.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

ian

Re: dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365
« Reply #7 on: 07 December, 2020, 10:39:56 am »
Hmm, it must be because I never installed OneDrive then. I just installed the individual apps direct from the Office 365 site, some kind of magic controls the corporate Microsoft subscriptions. Or I think I did.

There's probably a preference file that can be nuked somewhere.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365
« Reply #8 on: 07 December, 2020, 10:57:41 am »
I just installed the individual apps direct from the Office 365 site,

I’m pretty sure that wasn’t possible last time I looked but admittedly that was a while ago. If it’s changed then so much the better. Or maybe I was just looking in the wrong place...

Quote
There's probably a preference file that can be nuked somewhere.

Instructions I found online said to delete <these folders > from the Library, but when I looked where it told me I’d find them, <these folders > didn’t exist. Gah!
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

ian

Re: dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365
« Reply #9 on: 07 December, 2020, 11:16:03 am »
I think you are correct as I do in fact see OneDrive.app in my application list. But I don't use it and doubt I've ever fired it up.

Re: dropbox and one drive on a mac using Word 365
« Reply #10 on: 07 December, 2020, 12:07:22 pm »
Thank you all for the responses. Almost everything i deal with comes from outside or one of my own previous documents so I rarely worry about it.

I think there is a cheat if the default template folder is set to a different folder within dropbox then it will save to dropbox.

I think I will migrate all her files to OneDrive.