Sharing and collaborating with others
Find out how to work collaboratively with others on our sharing and collaboration tools web pages.
We offer several different options for where you can save your files, as well as guidance on where to save them, depending on what type of data your files contain.
It is everyone's responsibility to ensure data is saved appropriately, especially if you are the document owner. Information governance is a key responsibility of every member of the Imperial community and everyone has a part to play in adhering to Imperial's guidelines.
It is important you carefully consider confidential and restricted data to ensure compliance with legal restrictions such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or any contractual limitations which may apply.
You can view the glossary at the bottom of this page for definitions and additional information about the data and systems terminology used on this page.
Where to save your files
Below are some recommendations on where to save your documents containing confidential, restricted and unrestricted data, as defined in the Information Security Policy, as well as for files that may require certified environments or be suitable for making public.
Use the tabs below to find and use the recommended file or document storage repository to save your data files in secure, supported facilities.
Where to save files
Recommendations for non-research uses
Data classification | Personal files | Collaborative files for group work |
||
---|---|---|---|---|
MS Office Documents | Non-MS Office standard size files | Non-MS Office and large files (i.e. multimedia, high-res) | ||
Public | OneDrive | SharePoint | Group space | |
Unrestricted | OneDrive | SharePoint | SharePoint | Group space |
Restricted | OneDrive with encryption* | Group space with Symantec File Share Encryption | Group space with Symantec File Share Encryption | Group space with Symantec File Share Encryption |
Confidential | OneDrive with encryption* | Group space with Symantec File Share Encryption | Group space with Symantec File Share Encryption | Group space with Symantec File Share Encryption |
Recommendations for research uses
Data classification | Personal files | Collaborative files for group work | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
MS Office Documents | Non-MS Office standard size files | Non-MS Office and large files (i.e. multimedia, high-res) | ||
Public and High Performance Computing (HPC) | Research Date Store (RDS) | Research Data Store (RDS) | Research Data Store (RDS) | Research Data Store (RDS) |
Public | OneDrive | SharePoint | Research Data Store (RDS) | |
Unrestricted | OneDrive | SharePoint | SharePoint | Research Date Store (RDS) |
Restricted | OneDrive with encryption* | Groupspace with Symantec File Share Encryption | Group space with Symantec File Share Encryption | Group space with Symantec File Share Encryption |
Confidential | OneDrive with encryption* | Groupspace with Symantec File Share Encryption | Group space with Symantec File Share Encryption | Group space with Symantec File Share Encryption |
Certified Environments (only within Faculty of Medicine) |
Contact ICT | Faculty of Medicine Secure Enclaves & Big Data Analytics Unit Secure Environment (BDAU SE) | Faculty of Medicine Secure Enclaves & Big Data Analytics Unit Secure Environment (BDAU SE) | Faculty of Medicine Secure Enclaves & Big Data Analytics Unit Secure Environment (BDAU SE) |
Known limitations
*OneDrive with encryption is only available for Office Documents (Excel, PowerPoint, Word etc.) and cannot encrypt non-Office Documents. It is also not recommended for a large number of files as it would need to be applied to each individual file. Contact ICT for guidance.
OneDrive, Teams and SharePoint have some known limitations and we recommend using the below alternatives if the above solutions do not meet your needs.
Alternatives
For unrestricted research data the Research Computing Services team offer:
- RStudio
- Stata versions 11 and 13
Users can use the HPC system which offers a wide selection of Rstudio extensions, plus Stata versions 11 and 13. This is only available to researchers with a valid grant or cost code. All data that is hosted on the Research Data Store (RDS) has to live in a project and has to have a valid grant or cost code supplied.
EndNote Online - EndNote is a powerful research tool which helps you to manage your references, facilitate your research and is adaptable to suit your workflows. EndNote Desktop users can create an EndNote Online account and link the two. Content is then synchronised across both versions - this maximises portability of your EndNote library. (If you use your files on a cloud-based location, such as OneDrive or iCloud, this means your library can become corrupted over time.)
Glossary
Further support
- ASK ICT - If you cannot find a suitable solution in the above table you can get support by raising a request via the Service Desk.
- Hosting - We also offer hosting services for servers, websites and databases, typically to support specialised work, and also options for storing live data for your research needs.
- Read our tips and tricks to ensure you don't lose your files.
- Read File sync, recovery and backup for information on how to back-up your files and recover them.
Imperial business should be conducted only on information services provided by Imperial. Using non-Imperial information services to carry out Imperial business puts Imperial data at risk and therefore is not allowed except with sufficient justification.
For example, OneDrive for Business should be used instead of Dropbox, Google Drive and Docs etc. For further information, read our guidance on cloud applications.