Microsoft adds new features to OneDrive

There have been many fantastic business-enabling initiatives from Tech companies since Covid-19 hit. I have been working in the cloud space for the last 8 years, as a Cloud Solutions Architect focusing predominantly on digital transformation and I’ve found Microsoft has certainly been leading the way in making remote working and digital transformation easier. They started with a free trial of Microsoft Teams, and have now introduced a new set of features to OneDrive.

The crisis has propelled a change in attitudes towards remote working and tech companies have been responding as fast as they can. Reflecting these changes, the new features aim to improve flexibility, productivity and collaboration, whilst offering more control.

We’ve summarised some of the best, new features below.

Flexibility

Microsoft have increased the upload file size, across both OneDrive and SharePoint, from 15GB to 100GB. This is particularly helpful if you’re a company that deals with large file types.

Comment notifications can now be turned off – great if you find them distracting. Later this year, Microsoft will be updating this feature to turn notifications off for individual files rather than across the board.

If you access your files in a browser, you will soon be able to share links (to internal colleagues) by simply copying the browser address bar.

Productivity

Have you asked, or been asked, “Where is x file?” Then you will be pleased to hear that Microsoft have created a simple solution in the form of ‘Add to OneDrive’.

You will now be able to add shared folders directly to your OneDrive and work on them as if they were your own – collaborating, sharing and syncing without the maddening searching.

Connecting and collaborating

Do you use Microsoft Teams? (If not, you should be!)

You’ll soon be able to create sharing links within Teams whilst controlling the access, whether that’s giving access to everyone in your company, just those with existing access, or those within a group or private chat.

Collaboration on the move has often been thought about in terms of enabling teamwork anywhere, anytime. Microsoft have given the term a whole new meaning… with file movement.

Have you ever gone to work on a file only to find it’s moved libraries and you no longer have access? It will soon be a thing of the past as users will be able to choose to keep sharing a file with collaborators after the file has moved. You’ll even get a helpful notification that the file has moved, along with the new link.

Control

There have been some interesting changes made for admins too.

The admin experience has been streamlined and consolidated, meaning that later this year, all OneDrive admin capabilities, such as controls for sharing, access, syncing, and storage, will be available in the SharePoint admin centre.

Sync admin reports will also be available later this year, giving you visibility and insights on the health of the OneDrive sync app. You’ll be able to check sync app versions, sync status, and top sync errors on individual devices.

Users will also gain more control features, giving them the ability to control when access to files they have shared externally will expire in the form of setting an expiry date on the content, which can be extended or revoked based on their own discretion

If you have any questions about the new features or any other aspect of OneDrive for business or SharePoint, get in touch with our team of experts today.