University of Reading cookie policy

We use cookies on reading.ac.uk to improve your experience, monitor site performance and tailor content to you.

Read our cookie policy to find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Teaching desk, Library & Lab PCs

Where to save files - OneDrive for Business

The recommended storage location for your files is OneDrive for Business (ODfB), which you can access from anywhere and any device connected to the Internet. All teaching desk PCs, PCs in the Library and PC labs have a shortcut on the desktop to office.com, from where you can get to your own OneDrive.

About the Profile drive - temporary storage

A few applications are unable to save directly to a Cloud storage location such as OneDrive, so we are providing a network Profile location for use with these applications for teaching desk PCs, PCs in the Library and PC labs. You will see this in File Explorer, or Open/Save dialogues in applications, where the location used for Documents (or My Documents) is the Profile drive.  

Your Profile is only accessible on campus and should be used as a temporary store during a class or teaching session. If you do save any files to your Profile, you should copy these to your University OneDrive account at the end of your session (especially if you need to access them away from the teaching desk, Library or lab PC).

Important information 

  • The Profile drive's main purpose is to store temporary profile information during a session; for this reason, there is a limit of 1GB. 
  • Please remember to upload files from your Profile to OneDrive at the end of your session as you will not be able to access them from off campus. You can access your OneDrive by going to office.com on your lab PC (you may need to log in again). 
  • Instructions on how to upload to OneDrive: OneDrive Knowledge Base item
  • If you forget to copy the files at the end of the session, you can access the Documents folder from any teaching desk, Library or PC lab computer on campus and logging in. Profiles will be backed up nightly so that files can be restored if needed. 
  • Ensure you give the files time to upload before ending your session. The file will have a green tick next to it when uploaded.
  • As with all University assets, your profile drive is only available while you are at the University of Reading. 

For more information about using OneDrive for Business, please see the DTS OneDrive webpage.

Updated by lm920207 on 21/11/22