Enterprise icon vs OneDrive icon

Hi David, 

I can appreciate it when you say that OneDrive for Business content and SharePoint content both originate under the same tenant, and so could be combined within the FIle Explorer under the same icon. 

Perhaps Microsoft will end up doing that in the future.

I think there are good reasons, however, for them to be separated, and fo rthe time being, when I teach others about how to best leverage synchronized files from OneDrive for Business and from SharePoint, I point out a few differences. (I’m not speaking about OneDrive (consumer) in this post, so I’ll use “OneDrive” in place of “OneDrive for Business” going forward here).

Custodian of File Permissions

The origin/ownership of a file is signifcant from a permissions point of view.
Whether a file is in “MY FILESPACE (MYWORK)” (OneDrive) or in a “SHARED FILESPACE (OURWORK)” (SharePoint document libraries) is very significant. When teaching a user how to think about permissions, the user is completely responsible for sharing and permissions management for their individual OneDrive files. This custodial relationship is not the same for SharePoitn document libraries, which pertain to the site owner(s), not the individual user.

Compliance Rules and Impact

As content labeling and retention/deletion rules start to come into awareness across customers, a user will find comfort in being able to easily determine the difference between their own filespace and a shared filespace.

Work In Process and Individual File Storage

Users can be taught to understand that their OneDrive also serves as a convenient Work in Process storage area for their individual documents, and that when they are ready to publish to a shared work area, that SharePoint document libraries are a good place for that.

Within the Windows file explorer, the icons used to distinguish these can be leveraged to make a difference here.  Even if Microsoft, in its wisdom, decides to combines the icons into one (or allows a tiny corporate logo to be used in its place, on a per-tenant level), these concepts of the separation of MYWORK and OURWORK will need to be taught and explained. 

You may also have other, tenant-specific, categories for distinguishing the differences between OneDrive and SharePoint storage in the file explorer. 

I couldn’t find a UserVoice entry for making the icons the same in this group (https://onedrive.uservoice.com/forums/262982-onedrive/category/86090-onedrive-for-business), so you might want to create a suggestion there. That might be the right way to further the conversation.

Have a great week.

Owen