Auto-magically opening files whilst offline in the new OneDrive web experience
I was listening to a podcast recently (see below) about some new features coming up with the OneDrive web and desktop app. This ties into a more significant event they are hosting at the beginning of October, which will announce more features.
I suspect it will be the broader rollout of the new OneDrive web experience, where the context of how you use your files becomes more task-oriented and less folder-specific. I really can't wait for this transition as it emphasises how you work - whether that is the meetings and the artefacts they generate or the people you collaborate with. Simple.
Accessing OneDrive web whilst being offline
Please don't quote me on this, but more and more, I get this feeling that Microsoft is attempting to enhance the functionality of their web-based portals for SharePoint and OneDrive.
From my experience of doing large-scale organisation migrations to these services, you will hit a particular bottleneck before you need a mighty PC or god-like internet connection to enable the desktop to perform and work efficiently with File Explorer and the sync client. It has its limitations. We will go ahead and revisit this point later.
The big announcement, however, is the Project Nucleus rollout for the wider SharePoint and OneDrive services. There was an initial launch in 2021 for SharePoint lists but not the broader file management features.
What does this mean? Long story short, the SharePoint team introduced the concept of Progressive Web Applications (PWA), which allow data to be stored locally on your PC to facilitate accessing data even if you don't have an internet connection.
Now, this feature is being brought into the wider ecosystem of SharePoint; it means your commonly accessed files become faster and less complicated. The team said there were up to 5x faster experiences using the web version! Think about it like this - there is now less reliance on needing to sync loads of different libraries to your File Explorer for offline access! 🤯
Also, you may have noticed recently, when the OneDrive rebranding of the web experience was launched, that both this and the Teams files tab became almost identical. Meaning that both the web and Teams apps will support this offline experience.
A new and improved desktop sync client
A significant achievement for the team has also been rebuilding the local sync client database that makes accessing files through File Explorer possible. The overall processes for tracking changes and storing sync information have become more efficient. By the end of this year, the team also aims to get the soft limit for how many items can be synced from 300,000 to 400,000, which is a welcomed addition.
Open-in-app feature
The other feature I have spoken about before on this blog is the ability to use the "Open in app" feature for any application type (other than a few exceptions like .exe files) to reduce further the need to sync large libraries that need custom applications like CAD or the Adobe suite for example.
I wouldn't be surprised if it's announced at the October event.🤞
If you want to learn more about this feature, check out my other blog, where I explore it more deeply.
Harry Traynor