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The relentless ping pong of email attachments backwards and forwards doesn’t create much yin-yang in your organization, leading to confusion among users and multiple versions of documents in different locations. New tools, like Slack and SharePoint, clearly demonstrate how unsuitable email can be as a collaboration tool, but nevertheless email is often the quickest way to communicate with people outside of your organization.
The good news is that Microsoft has combined the power of cloud storage and email to allow attachments to be sent as links that recipients can view or edit without attaching files to emails, all in a seamless process that users are already familiar with.
If you use Microsoft Office on your device, you’ll need to upgrade to Outlook 2016 to get modern attachments. The Outlook web interface also supports modern attachments, but unfortunately the Outlook Mail app for Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile isn’t yet in on the game, although you can still attach files from OneDrive as old fashioned files.
It’s also worth noting that recipients can view or edit modern attachments without signing in to Office 365, so you don’t need to worry that you’re adding an extra step before your files can be viewed.
If you select a file from OneDrive in Outlook 2016, a modern attachment will be used as default.
You’ll be shown a list of recent files, including any that have been recently created or edited on OneDrive.
Adding a modern attachment in Outlook 2016 (Image Credit: Russell Smith)
Once the file is attached to the email, you can click the arrow to the right of the attached item to perform a variety of actions. By default, email recipients get permission to edit the file directly from the link provided. Note that you can attach files from any OneDrive associated with the Connected Services shown on the Office Account screen on the File menu.
Selecting a OneDrive in Outlook 2016 (Image Credit: Russell Smith)
Let’s use Word in this demo, but you can use the instructions below to attach a file from Excel or PowerPoint. Open a document in Word and follow the instructions:
Unfortunately, this method isn’t quite as elegant as creating an email directly in Outlook. A URL is added to the email, but there’s no way to change the default share permissions.
The process here is almost the same as in Outlook 2016, but you’re limited to selecting files from the OneDrive for Business that’s associated with your Office 365 subscription.
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