Saving and sharing information

This guide includes the most important instructions related to saving and sharing information. You can find more help from this instructions site by using, for example, the search. If you cannot solve the problem with the instructions, don’t hesitate to contact the IT Helpdesk.

The university enables the use of various network drives for individual or group work on both university computers and home computers. In addition to home and group directories, work files can be saved on your computer or external storage media. Different types of storage media have different features. Some are designed for personal use and some for sharing information with others.  This page contains links for more detailed instructions.

For more information on saving information, see Student’s digital skills.

If you need temporary storage space for larger files, you can use the folder C:\LocalData\username (Windows 10) located on the computer’s hard drive. However, these folders are not backed up, so do not rely on them as your only storage location! In addition, you will not be able to access these folders from any other computer.

Each university student and employee has access to a UH home directory (Z drive on university computers). It is the preferable network storage location as it is personal, meaning that other users cannot access its contents, and it is automatically backed up every night. You can access your home directory not only at the University of Helsinki but also anywhere in the world. The directory contains 100 gigabytes of disk space.

Please note that on the university’s Windows computers, the Documents directory is located in the Z drive subdirectory My Documents and the Desktop in the Z drive subdirectory Desktop.

• Remote access to home directory (Windows)
• Remote access to home directory (Mac)
• Remote access to home directory (Cubbli User Documentation -wiki, available in English)

You can establish a remote connection from your home computer to your home directory. This allows you to access and use the files and folders in the directory as if you were using a university computer. All changes made through the remote connection will be stored.

• Remote access to home directory (Windows 10)
• Remote access to home directory (Mac)
• Using your home directory on your home computer (Cubbli, Cubbli-wiki available in English)

The IT Services offer university units and workgroups the chance to store and share documents in a separate group disk space. It is a secure storage space for the group, only available for the appointed persons. Only service coordinators can create group disk spaces.

Follow these instructions to gain access to a new group disk space.

Only service coordinators can create group disk spaces (in Flamma)

• Creating and managing a group disk space (instructions for service coordinators)
• Group disk space management tool (access restricted to service coordinators of university services)

Once the service coordinator has created the group disk space, you will be able to see it on your computer.

• Connecting and remotely accessing a group disk space (Mac)
• Connecting a group disk space to your computer (Cubbli)

• The Umpio storage space is a secure network folder for sensitive data. It can only be used with a virtual computer using two-factor authentication.
• Instructions for ordering and using the service.

• Instructions (Sharing group files in cloud)

USB flash drives and external hard drives are convenient tools for storing data. Remember to make back-up copies and keep your storage media safe. The university’s lost-and-found ends up with hundreds of USB sticks every year.

Funet FileSender is a browser-based network service designed for sharing large files, even several gigabytes in size. The service is not intended for permanent storage of files. Files are removed from the sharing service after a fixed period of time.

FileSender only allows one file to be sent at a time. However, you can pack several files into a zip file to bypass this restriction.

• Instructions on Helpdesk site

The aforementioned services are designed for storing your work either for your own use or to be shared with a group. If you wish to edit the same documents with other users, we recommend learning about software and services designed to make teamwork easier. These various pieces of software are excellent for preliminary drafting, brainstorming and sharing notes. The OneDrive service, for example, allows several users to access the same document at the same time, displaying the changes made to the document to others in real time.
Learn more about group work tools in Student’s digital skills.

• OneDrive (sharing and saving files, teamwork). You can access OneDrive with your browser at https://www.helsinki.fi/office365
• OneNote (shared notebooks). You can access OneNote with your browser at https://www.helsinki.fi/office365
• Blogs (information about blog services)
• Unitube (publishing, viewing and managing videos)