How to share Office 365 documents and folders between Windows 10 PC and Windows 10 Mobile

By Cale Hunt
published

How do I share Office 365 documents between my PC and my Windows phone?

Being able to view and edit your Office 365 documents while you're on the go is an enormous upside of having a Windows 10 PC and phone combo. By using OneDrive, documents can be shared and updated in real time.

If you happen to come up with a great idea when you're at the coffee shop, jot it down in Word on your phone and open it later on your PC when you get home. Stuck in an airport without your laptop and realize you need to make some changes to your PowerPoint presentation? No problem; Windows 10 Mobile Office apps are strong and able.

Here's how to share documents and folders new and old between your Windows 10 PC and phone.

Note: These steps require you to have gone through the OneDrive setup processes when you first got ahold of your PC and phone.

How to share an Office 365 document from your PC to your phone

  1. Launch an Office 365 app from your Start menu or taskbar. In this case we open Word.
  2. Click a new document template to create a new document.

  1. Click File.
  2. Click Save As.

  1. Click your OneDrive account.
  2. Click the filename field.

  1. Type a filename for the document.
  2. Click Save.

The file is now saved in your OneDrive. To open the file on your Windows 10 Mobile phone, follow these steps:

  1. Launch an Office 365 app from your home screen or All apps menu. In this case we use Word.
  2. Tap Browse.
  3. Tap OneDrive.

  1. Tap the file you'd like to open. A download will begin.
  2. Tap the checkmark at the bottom of your screen.

You can now make changes to the file and they will be saved to OneDrive.

How to share an Office 365 document from your phone to your PC

  1. Launch an Office 365 app from your home screen or All apps menu. In this case we use Excel.
  2. Tap + New.
  3. Tap a new document template to create a new document.

  1. Tap the menu button in the top left corner. It looks like ☰.
  2. Tap Save.
  3. Tap the filename field.

  1. Type a name for the document.
  2. Tap Enter.

This file created on your Windows 10 Mobile phone has now been saved to your OneDrive. To open the file on your PC, follow these steps:

  1. Launch an Office 365 app from your Start menu or taskbar. In this case we open Excel.
  2. Click Open Other Workbooks.
  3. Click your OneDrive account.

  1. Click Documents.
  2. Double-click the file you'd like to open.

You can now make changes to the file and they will be saved to OneDrive.

How to share an existing Office 365 document from your PC to your phone

If you already have some Office 365 documents saved locally on your PC, you can add them to OneDrive so that they can be accessed on your phone.

  1. Locate the directory the document is saved at on your PC.
  2. Click and hold the document you'd like to share.
  3. Drop the file into your OneDrive folder located on the left side of the Window.

You can drag and drop multiple files and even entire folders into your OneDrive folder using this method.

Cale Hunt
Cale Hunt
Senior Editor, Laptop Reviews

Cale Hunt is formerly a Senior Editor at Windows Central. He focuses mainly on laptop reviews, news, and accessory coverage. He's been reviewing laptops and accessories full-time since 2016, with hundreds of reviews published for Windows Central. He is an avid PC gamer and multi-platform user, and spends most of his time either tinkering with or writing about tech.

13 Comments
  • With limited data plan and huge file set its not feasible.
  • Exactly. And what about places where you might not get a good connection.
  • WIFI?
  • Isn't is just EASIER doing this via ShareIt ?!!
    Why keep using OneDrive (Not that OD is bad; i love how it works) ! Share it doesn't even need data. Just use a hotspot to connect.
    Needless to say, it's wayyy faster than bluetooth and USB 2.0
  • What about fragmentation? When you don't know what document is newer - on phone, on PC, or other PC? And you don't know what exactly has been changed on many devices. One fragment on phone is newer, other fragment on PC is also newer, how to combine them? User should have one central place to synchronize changes. And this is - OneDrive. Please, I have 4 year experience in this, I have curated the students group. And this group have used OneDrive+Office and all the Microsoft services (shared calendars, shared OneNote, Wunderlist, etc.) since they started study. And that experience is one of the best that IT gave us. Also I issued it as a scientific articles, very good rated. Thanks, Microsoft! You did great job.
  • Well. Good point there !! The culprit? Windows 10 Mobile of course !!
  • I'm confused, isn't all of this automatic now. I create a document on my PC, save it to OneDrive and then can open it on my phone in the recent documents screen, no need for me to do anything....?
  • Yes. Exactly....
  • Don't most things connect to a hotspot, rather than mobile network, when available. My 950xl does. As for sharing files, its saved me headaches when preparing for a meeting. You always forget something! Well, I do.
  • Seems like a lot of steps to me. 
  • Guys, this is a noob article for someone not using OD. This stuff just works if you are using the same Microsoft account or O365-Work/School accounts between your devices. This is for helping the folks that are using other accounts and rarely or never used a MSA.
  • What a horrible experience lol! For all of the OneDrive flaws, avoiding this form of setup makes it the best thing ever.
  • I thing my data plan won't allow me to enjoy such services. I turn of auto update/refresh on my laptop to save data.