WGA Document Library

Access the WGA Document Library

All WGA staff can access the WGA Document Library, hosted on SharePoint

You can use the WGA Document Library Structure Link opens in a new window to help you navigate.

If you have any questions, you can contact the relevant lead for the folder

WGA Document Library Basic Principles

The WGA Document Library is for storing files which other members of staff may need to see, use or collaborate on
Shared files must not be saved/stored outside of the document library – this includes on Teams, OneDrive and old SharePoint sites, although you can still use your OneDrive for your own files, or to draft documents before they are ready to be shared
Permissions are applied to folders (which means that permissions cascade down to all files and sub folders within), rather than at a document level which would be difficult to manage.
Most folders (and documents) are accessible to all WGA staff to view, although editing rights will be limited to PSS and Exec or staff with specific responsibilities.
Some folders will be restricted due to their content
Folders are colour coded to show which team are responsible for the contents, and if the folder has restricted permissions (see folder owners and access)

Guidance on using the WGA Document Library

Navigate the WGA Document Library

From the FP – Warwick Global Academy Document Library Home page you can preview folders, use the quick links or navigate through the Document Library by using the Documents tab on the right hand side

Sync SharePoint and Teams files with your computer

You can sync your Microsoft SharePoint and Teams files to a folder on your computer. This lets you work directly in File Explorer and access files even when you're offline. And when you go back online, any changes made to those files will sync automatically.

Note: For info about syncing files on macOS, see Sync files with OneDrive on Mac OS X.

WGA Document Library structure

Use the navigation in Word to search the WGA Document Library Structure - Managed Folders.docx for the folder you are looking for. Please note, this only includes managed (top level) folders, sub-folders aren’t shown.

Link to a document or folder within the WGA Document Library

Link to a document from the Document Library

Select the file you want to share in the Document Library
Select Copy link from the task bar, or click on the 3 dots and select copy link
Paste into another document, email or Teams to share

NB users will only be able to open/edit documents they have permissions for

Link to a document from a Microsoft app (Word/Excel/PowerPoint etc)

Open the file
File > Info > Copy path
Paste into another document, email or Teams to share

NB users will only be able to open/edit documents they have permissions for

Link to a folder

Open the folder you want to share in the Document Library. Without selecting any contents, click copy link in the task bar
Or, in the parent folder, select the folder then copy link in the task bar, or click on the 3 dots and copy link
Paste into another document, email or Teams to share

NB users will only be able to open/edit documents they have permissions for

Folder owners (colours) and access

Folders are colour coded to show which team are responsible for the contents:

Academic Services Manager: Becca Williams (blue folders)
Executive Officer: Joanne Scarr (green folders)
Operations Director: Jo Hart (purple folders)
Marketing, Communications and Admissions Manager: Alison Durham (orange folders)

The darker shade folders have restricted access. Folders outside of the managed structure (sub-folders) are yellow.

Please send access requests and queries to the folder owners, specifying which folder you would like access or edit permissions to.

Add files to the WGA Document Library (Members/Owners)

Drag and drop an existing document into the Document Library

NB you can only do this from your computer file explorer, not from Teams or SharePoint

Navigate to the folder with the documents that you want to upload.
On another screen/window open the folder within the WGA Document library
Drag and drop the files to the SharePoint library. The library should display a highlight when you hover the file over it.
You should see your files appear in the Document library

Move documents from Teams or SharePoint to Document Library

Open the folder where the document is saved (on Teams this will be in the Channel e.g. IFP Teachers > Shared)
Select the file(s)
Move to > FP - Warwick Global Academy Document Library (tip: pin this to Quick access) - icon is a green square with FW
Navigate to the folder you want to save the file(s) in
Move here

Move files from Teams to Document Library

Upload an existing document into the folder on the Document Library

If the files/folders are on SharePoint or Teams (rather than your OneDrive, desktop or M drive) first sync SharePoint and Teams files with your computer (you will need to do this for each SharePoint and Teams group – one of the advantages of the new document library!)
Select upload (files or folder) from the task bar
Find the files you want to upload (SharePoint sync files will be under an icon of an office building with University of Warwick)
You should see your files appear in the Document library

Don’t forget to delete the original document so you don’t end up with multiple versions of the same document, and so you know what has already been copied to the document library.

Add a new document

To create a new document to share/collaboratively work on with colleagues, navigate to the folder and click + New

Unsure what to do with a file/folder?

Please try and move as many files to the correct folder on the WGA Document Library as you can. However, if you are unsure on where to movea file to, or whether it needs to be kept at all, please move to your team folder within Files to be Triaged or the archive folder within Programmes > programme > Year specific folders, keeping contents in sub-folders or as organised as possible. The Team Manager will review their triage folders later on in term 2 and either rehome, archive or delete. Please do not leave files in their original locations as there is a risk they will be forgotten about.

New folders (Members/Owners)

Request a new folder

New folders in the manged part of the Document Library (purple/blue/orange and green folders - see above) should only be created by the Owner with responsibilities for the overarching folder. Please send requests for new folders to the Team Manager, who will check the existing folder structure for any duplication, and if a new folder is needed, they will identify the most suitable place to store the file, and add update the folder structure.

Adding a new folder (members and owners)

Members and owners can create new folders, however it’s important that the managed part of the WGA Document Library matches the folder structure. Members should only add yellow sub-folders, which sit outside the managed folder structure and will match the same permissions as the parent folder. If a folder is renamed or moved, any links to folders or document will break, and the library needs to be kept as tidy and manageable as possible

Version control (Members/Owners)

Versioning enables you to 'roll back' to a previous version of a file. At present, each and every time you save (or auto-save) a change to a document it creates a completely new version of that document in the background. So a 1mb document can actually take up 10mb if it has 10 historical versions stored. To minimise the impact of versioning on the Document Library storage space, only major changes will be saved, and versions are automatically deleted over time based on activity and how long ago the file was first created

If you click the 3 dots icon next to a file and select 'Version history' you can see all of the versions stored for each doc and manually delete versions that you no longer need. When you revert to a previous version SharePoint creates another version of the document and retains the previous version. So, if you have Document A and it has v1, 2, and 3 and you want to restore version 2, it will create version 4 and keep all the other versions (up to the maximum of 50). This is so that if someone restores a previous version in error you can still go back to the correct one.

During document drafting it is worth turning on Track Changes and showing All Markup. If the document gets too busy you can change the ‘All Markup’ option to ‘Simple Markup’ or ‘No Markup’. This doesn’t turn off Track Changes, or delete comments, which should only be done when the document is fully approved and ready for circulation.

Please also note that whilst Warwick's Sharepoint environment has some 'safety nets' which enable IDG to recover deleted files/sites for a limited period however Sharepoint is not 'backed up' in the same way as other Warwick systems so please be careful about deleting documents.

Owner How to Guides (Owners)