Microsoft Announces Big Changes and New Features in OneDrive 3.0

As we submitted, Microsoft announced big news in OneDrive at the beginning of October. He refers to the upcoming changes as the third version to underline the scope of the changes in the context of the sixteen-year history of cloud storage. Some of the news may sound familiar, as the Redmonds talked about it a year ago on the occasion of the service’s 15th birthday.

This is how time passes in a big company. A year ago, for example, it revealed that the recent files section would be replaced by a home screen with more types of content. We will really see the home version, but many other modifications will be added to it. The creative team took it from the floor and honestly redesigned the site in the style of Fluent.

It needed a visual revival, the environment was too austere and less and less in harmony with the other products from the home stable. Microsoft hasn’t touched OneDrive on the web for years. Here and there you’ll even come across the original flat design from 2012 that was associated with Windows 8 for a change. Just dive in into the bowels of the service settings.

This is what OneDrive looks like today. They deserve better care

Hopefully we will finally get rid of these skeletons, but mainly we will get new functions, including better search. It will also strengthen the management options and Copilot will appear, but apparently not for everyone.

The web version sometimes hides parts of the user interface that look like this

A new home

The home page will resemble the home section in Explorer. Microsoft intends to offer a consistent experience. It will offer more partitions. AI will recommend files for you in the upper part, below you will find a classic overview of recently changed files. You can pin pages in SharePoint to the sidebar for quick access, if you are working with the company version.

The home screen will also offer AI recommendations

Do you remember someone sending you a file without being able to name its contents? He will help you file display filter, which is shared with you by the selected person. Similarly, it will be possible to browse files from meetings, where you may also see recordings. Some news are aimed more at organizations, and Microsoft does not consistently describe which functions will be available only in the consumer or, conversely, only in the business version of the service. (We certainly find a lot in both.)

The display of all files shared with you becomes clearer. At first glance, the striking novelty will lie in assigning colors to folders. They won’t necessarily all be yellow anymore. Finally, we will be able to easily filter files by file type, just tap on the desired extension on the search results page.

Colors distinguish folders with different types of content

We will mark specific files as favorites, we will navigate between them in a special section. Redesigned by the creative team share dialog, to make it clearer. After copying the share link, it will clearly tell you that the copy was successful. These news are available in companies and schools. No word on a consumer market date.

Upcoming news

Let’s look at other features that are not directly related to the OneDrive home section. These are just-in-progress novelties that, unlike the above-mentioned redesign, are not immediately available in schools and businesses, let alone in households. Microsoft gives at least indicative release dates for them, and they differ from piece to piece.

Again, we don’t know for sure how it is with the inclusion of news from the consumer and business versions of OneDrive:

Editing in desktop programs. For years, web OneDrive has allowed you to directly open Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, etc. in desktop Office tools, but you can edit any file in desktop programs just the same. For example, you edit the image in Painting or Zoner. When you’re done, the changes are uploaded back to OneDrive or SharePoint. This will also apply to access from Teams. Testing will start in October, wide distribution in December.
Integration in Teams. The mention of Teams is not accidental. The new environment replaces the existing one for browsing files, so that you can comfortably work with your OneDrive files even while on the communication platform. Distribution will begin in December.

Integration in Outlook. The new Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web will have one-click access to OneDrive. A button in the side navigation bar will show you the contents of the cloud drive straight away. Today it switches you to OneDrive, but opens it in a new tab. Distribution will begin in December.

Work without connection and synchronization. If you want to work with your files offline, you must have the client installed. But this will soon cease to be the case, as OneDrive on the web will offer an offline mode. (Not sure if on every platform.) Changes are synced to the cloud when connected. You will also be able to select files and folders that should always be downloaded. Distribution will start in early 2024.
Create a file. Create a document, spreadsheet or other file directly in the OneDrive environment. A prominent button at the top of the navigation sidebar will enable this. But it no longer leads directly to the application, you first select a template and view a preview. Distribution will begin in summer 2024.
Multimedia display. Until now, you could view multimedia in OneDrive when you switched to the photo gallery. The filter will now be available right on the main page. The view is similar to what Gallery in Explorer offers. Distribution will begin in summer 2024.
Search in photos. Consumer OneDrive will finally offer decent photo search. It recognizes faces, you will be able to name your loved ones and use them as a filter. Plus, you’ll be able to search in natural language. OneDrive will go through the content of the images with understanding when you ask it, for example, for photos of a dog from the beach. Limited testing will begin in October, with wider testing in early 2024.

Copilot a Microsoft 365 Chat. AI mediates file searches in natural language, briefly summarizing the contents of the files for you. Distribution will begin in December, with Copilot only going to companies that will have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Chat in companies, on the other hand, can browse all available data. It should be available from November.

Copilot should be more and more useful. It will help you find files. If you follow his recommendation, Copilot will move all relevant files to a new folder, so that they are under one roof. It makes sharing easier by sending people not just links, but also summaries of file content. They will also inform you of the changes that took place during your vacation.

However, this is the music of the future. The new OneDrive will also bring a lot of management options, which are, of course, completely out of our scope. If you want to know more about them, head over to the OneDrive blog.

OneDrive 3.0 bets on smart functions:

Sources: Microsoft OneDrive Blog (1, 2)

2023-10-09 16:41:15
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