If you have used Microsoft products, you will be familiar with OneDrive. The product that helps connect many of the other Microsoft Office products together.
OneDrive can be used for a raft of different vital business functions, the most important being assisting companies control & store their documents, access work flexibly and remotely, share files with colleagues, and collaborate on content.
What is Microsoft OneDrive?
OneDrive is a cloud-based storage platform. Users can store everything from documents and text files to photos, videos, and audio files. It is included with every Microsoft account, even free plans, it is an alternative to your computer’s internal storage drive. When you keep all your files on your computer’s drive, it can slow down performance considerably, which is why we always recommend using OneDrive for file storage and management. But OneDrive’s benefits stretch well beyond simply preserving your computer’s storage and performance.
OneDrive is one of the most valuable products in the Microsoft Cloud portfolio and supports the most recognisable corporations in the world. The functionality of OneDrive has grown and evolved so much, that it can no longer be considered as just a cloud-storage platform. In many ways, it ties the Microsoft 365 experience together, and provides a perfect space for professionals to manage their work daily.
Professionals use OneDrive for file storage, sharing and management; it links all of the familiar Microsoft Office apps (such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, etc.) together, so that you can seamlessly save and access files from OneDrive, directly within these apps.
OneDrive Home
Microsoft have announced a new landing experience with OneDrive on the web. This rich new homepage experience will make it easier for individuals to jump back into their work. The new OneDrive Home experience will include a feed of relevant content at the top of the page – this feed will feature files that you have recently modified, or that have recently received comments from your colleagues. This feed is designed to make it easier for you to jump back into work that you may have left the day before.
In addition to this, the Recent list of files in OneDrive, which you usually must open from the left-hand menu, will be included in the OneDrive Homepage. Furthermore, the Recent list will have filters – so if you’re looking for an Excel spreadsheet you recently worked on, you just press the Excel button, and the list will only show .xlsx files – the same goes for Word, PowerPoint, and PDF files. The Recent list will also include a new Activity column. Say a colleague recently left a comment on a document or shared one of your files to a Teams channel – whatever the recent activity is, it will be displayed next to the file in the Recent list. This new column will also be added to the My files section of OneDrive.
Intuitive File Management
Microsoft are also working on making the process of file sharing, controlling access permissions, and viewing sharing histories easier and more intuitive. To share a file from OneDrive, or within one of the Office apps is as easy as clicking the Share icon that usually appears in the ribbon. Microsoft have worked to optimize the Share dialog so that all the options you need are clearly visible via drop-down menus – for example, it now includes a Quick Permissions drop-down menu.
OneDrive will also receiving a standardised files experience between itself, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams. The idea is to make it easier to access files that are associated with a specific SharePoint Site, or Teams team, from within OneDrive. For instance, within OneDrive, you will also be able to pin document libraries from SharePoint to your Quick Access menu that sites along the left-hand side of your OneDrive page and access the document libraries without leaving OneDrive.
So, these are some of the new capabilities in OneDrive that users will soon be taking advantage of. Undoubtedly, there will be many more to come over the years. Microsoft have worked very hard to ensure that OneDrive provides its customers with the most intuitive, and supportive experience possible.
