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Microsoft has indicated that there could be some pretty seismic changes to the way it handles file sharing and collaboration through its OneDrive cloud storage solution, but the cryptic coverage leaves a lot to be answered.
The company regularly updates new features and adds new features to the entire lineup, and publishes on the dedicated roadmap page. The last (opens in new tab) in a series of OneDrive updates reads: “Sharing experiences – simplifying external sharing”.
The summary shares little more in terms of detail: “We want to simplify the sharing journey when a customer wants to collaborate with someone outside their organization.”
Share files in OneDrive
What we do know is that the update is coming to the web version of OneDrive first and could arrive as early as this month. We also know that it is in the testing phase.
Microsoft’s annual conference aimed at developers and IT professionals – Ignite – is currently taking place and has yielded some juicy tidbits about OneDrive.
In a post on the OneDrive blog (opens in new tab), author irfanshahdad explains that the OneDrive homepage has been “reimagined”. The changes are more subtle than in-your-face, and revolve around some background work that reveals recently opened files and new filters for sorting by file type.
There are also updates to share management, with new tabs for shared by you, shared with you, people, and meetings (the latter two are good at categorizing shared files by owner or event). The demo on the company’s blog shows that these work in conjunction with other filters, such as sorting by file type.
The company is also working on an offline mode for its OneDrive web app, much like “Files On-Demand” for its desktop clients. The so-called Project Nucleus allows you to make changes, with edits being uploaded as soon as there is an internet connection again.