Overview
Microsoft Teams and SharePoint work together so that files shared in Teams are stored in SharePoint. This article explains where those files live, how to access them, and how the two services integrate.
Where Files Are Stored
Teams uses SharePoint for file storage. When you share files in a Teams channel, those files are stored in a SharePoint site that is automatically created for your team. Each channel in Teams has a corresponding folder in the SharePoint document library.
Accessing Files
You can access, upload, and collaborate on files directly in the Teams app from the Shared tab in each channel, or open the same files in SharePoint in your web browser.
Collaboration Features
Real-time editing: multiple users can edit a document at the same time, whether they open it from Teams or from SharePoint in a web browser.
Permissions: you can control who can view or edit a file based on the membership of the Teams channel it is posted in, or manage the permissions directly in SharePoint.
Integration Benefits
Unified experience: Teams handles chat and meetings while SharePoint provides robust document management.
Search: searching for a file in Teams also finds documents stored in SharePoint.
Personal Files
OneDrive for Business: files shared in a private chat (not a channel) are stored in the sender’s OneDrive for Business, with permissions set so the recipient(s) can access them.
Summary
When you share files in a Teams channel, you are using SharePoint behind the scenes. This gives you SharePoint’s document management features along with the collaboration tools in Teams.