Focus the Yammer’s purpose to communication, by removing file management features.

I always keep my keys in the same place, on a hook at home, my backpack at work or my right coat pocket. With my daughter now driving, my car is taken out on a random basis, and my keys are often NOT found where I expect. However, with a few minutes of search, they are usually found. The issue is not the multiple drivers, it’s that there are multiple good places to store the keys at home. The Kitchen counter, the table by the front door, my daughter’s purse and our key rack at the back door. The same is true with Office 365 and file management. There are lots of good places to store files including SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Groups and even Yammer.

To reduce confusion, the number of options should be limited. So how do we do this? Easy!

Within your Yammer configuration, you can disable the storage of files. A good illustration for this approach is using specialty tools like a hammer to pound in nails, instead of a Swiss army knife.

This setting has three options.

• No files
• Images and videos
• All files

I like the “Images and videos” option. It allows the users to still use the mobile app to capture pictures and videos and post them directly to the company feed without allowing full-on file management.

The default setting is: “Allow all files”, but should be changed for any new Office 365 rollout.

Walk Through:

You can watch a walk-thru of this on my Five Minute Friday segment.

1. Log into https://Office.com
2. Click the App Launcher
3. Select the option: Admin
4. From the menu: Admin Center
5. Select the option: Yammer
   Note: Yammer Network configuration page opens
6. Select the option: Configuration
7. Set the File Upload Permissions

Conclusion

There are lots of document management solutions within Office 365, why not rule Yammer out, and give it a focus of communication and conversation. It’s Yammer Hammer-time.