Probably very basic computer question - can anyone help?

[IsTheRainEverComingBack]

I’m thinking of getting a new laptop, I start part time study for a masters soon and I also work from home/sometimes other places. I have a home office with a desktop that will continue to be my main base, but want a laptop for taking notes in lectures, working on the go etc. Desktop is windows with office 365, laptop will be too.

Is there a way to autodrop files from each computer to the other? I’m used to Apple products where if I download or save something on one device, it’s also automatically on the others. Can I do something like this with Windows? I will be using the same Outlook email/calendar/sign in from both. Can I set a shared drive or something?

Thanks for you help.

I use Dropbox. As long as you are connected to the internet you can just open the folder and work on the documents as if they are on the computer you are working on.

I thought of Dropbox, though I’ve only ever used it for work and not got on with it well.

I don't use it myself but I understand that Office 365 comes with cloud storage in the form of their OneDrive offering. On that basis, as long as you store your files in One Drive you should be able to access them from any device that has the appropriate apps.

I used google drive throughout my studies. You have to open files at google files, then they are saved automatically. You can download them as pdfs etc. You can also work on the same document as someone else at the same time which is frigging great for group work.

Ah I haven’t really looked at OneDrive (haven’t needed to) that might be the best way if it works like that.
It’ll mostly be for study notes I’m writing on the laptop and then want on the desktop.

Office 365 comes with 1TB of cloud storage via one drive. I use it to sync files across home and work desktops/laptop/tablet/phone!

If you don't already have an office 365 account, check out whether your university has a 365 licence (so you get all the software and your storage for free). If they don't, then you can buy a four year 365 licence for about £60 if you have a university email address.

When I was at uni we got access to our own One drive. And a "portal" with all our course details and modules.

This could be accessed at home by logging into One drive and your uni log in. You can also link your One drive personal and business on all Windows.

I use OneDrive.
Big pc, laptop and Android phone can share files.

Cheers everyone, OneDrive seems the way to go. I do have a personal 365 account so all good there.