Microsoft unveils the next generation of OneDrive – and it might actually make you like using cloud storage
Microsoft has officially unveiled the next generation of OneDrive, which will bring the cloud storage solution more in line with the rest of the company’s offerings, including Microsoft 365 apps like Teams and Outlook.
The company calls the upgrade “the future of file management,” and it’s not surprising to see the Copilot-branded AI tools appearing across the board.
With trillions of files already hosted on the platform, Microsoft hopes the change will make it easier for employees and individuals to access, share and collaborate on files.
OneDrive is getting a midlife makeover
It’s been years since OneDrive got its last major redesign, and this latest aims to bring it more in line with the rest of the company’s portfolio by introducing a clearer user interface.
Despite some layout tweaks, navigation in the primary OneDrive interface remains familiar with menus like Home, For You, and Shared all available.
A new People view aims to make it easy to find files if you know who shared it but can’t quite figure out what it’s called, and a new Meetings view plays meeting recordings and attachments.
Microsoft says that file sharing now requires fewer clicks, which has become an issue not only for OneDrive but other cloud storage platforms as more sharing options have become available over time.
Other upcoming features include the ability to directly access more apps than the standard Microsoft 365 programs, and the tighter integration of OneDrive into Teams and Outlook, where many users do most of their file sharing.
Redmond also says users can “ask open-ended questions about an individual file or get a summary of its contents” in OneDrive and SharePoint thanks to system-wide AI integration, among many other Copilot-branded tools.
The full announcement is available on Microsoft’s website, and it’s likely the company will release even more documentation about the changes soon.