OneDrive is #3 in Top 10 Cloud Storages

Positions in ratings

#3 in Top 10 Cloud Storages

Alternatives

The best alternatives to OneDrive are: DropBox, Google Drive, SharePoint, iCloud, Box

Latest news about OneDrive

2018. Microsoft added AI transcription to OneDrive and SharePoint



Microsoft is adding video and audio transcription capabilities to OneDrive for Business and SharePoint, making a range of digital content more easily accessible to users. The new feature will automatically create a full transcript of dialogue when viewing a video or listening to an audio file, using AI technology available in Microsoft Stream (formerly Office 365 Video). The text data will be stored in the Microsoft Cloud, which Microsoft claims can be cheaper and more secure than relying on third-party transcription tools. The new service will be made available to Office 365 subscribers later this year.

2015. Microsoft gives Apple Users OneDrive For Business Access



Microsoft has released the first public version of OneDrive for Business for Mac. With the new OneDrive for Business for Mac, users will be able to do the same as well as access and use files in their OneDrive through the Mac Finder and manage and sync files in the same way they would with the existing application for Windows. The OneDrive for Business client for Mac also allows users to access and take their OneDrive for Business files offline so users can access downloaded files without having to have access to an Internet connection. However, the real draw is that the iOS app for mobile devices lets users access both their OneDrive for Business and OneDrive consumer accounts from the same app.


2014. Office 365 gets unlimited OneDrive storage.



As of today, Office 365 Home, Personal and University customers are getting the storage boost. Business customers will get unlimited storage will get unlimited storage also soon. In the meantime, they have 1 TB of storage per user. OneDrive works much like Google Drive, allowing you to access content on all of your devices, plus share it and collaborate on documents. Google Drive, Box, Dropbox and other cloud-storage utilities, though, have limited storage capabilities. If you meet a limit, you have to buy more. Bitcasa, one of the few platforms to offer unlimited storage, actually ceased that operation last week, giving Microsoft a big advantage in regards to storage.


2014. OneDrive unifies access to business and personal files



Microsoft's Onedrive is making it easier for mobile users to access both business and personal files simultaneously (from both personal and work accounts). The app will distinguish which account each file belongs to in order to avoid potential mixups, but users can view and back up files to both accounts. Microsoft will also add an extra layer of security to the app with the ability to set a four-digit PIN that can be required to restrict access to individual files or the entire app. Next week these new features will appear in the Android app and in the coming months the updates will roll out to the iOS and Windows Phone apps.


2014. Microsoft OneDrive gives 15 Gb for free



Microsoft increased the free limit of cloud storage in OneDrive to 15 Gb (previously was 7Gb). If you want more storage capacity, you can now pay $1.99 monthly for 100 gigabytes. The company will also now offer free 1Tb to all Office 365 customers. For example, Office 365 Personal costs $6.99 monthly and now it comes with almost unlimited storage. If compare this to competitors: Google Drive provides 25 Gb free and offers almost similar pricing, charging $1.99 a month for 100GB and $9.99 for 1TB. Apple grants 5GB free, charging $0.99 a month for 20GB. There is no 100GB option, but at 200GB, the rate is the same as OneDrive's, at $3.99. Amazon Cloud Drive gives 5 GB Free and offers 100 Gb for $4.1 per month. So OneDrive's price cut is not a big problem for giants, but further puts the pressure on third-party services such as Dropbox and Box.


2014. Microsoft renames SkyDrive to OneDrive


Actually, Microsoft marketers love to rename applications and services. For example, the cloud storage and file sync service SkyDrive during recent years was named FolderShare, Windows Live Office, Live Mesh. But this time the name change will happen not because the marketers should do some work for their salary, but because last August the British broadcasting company BSkyB won the legal dispute to take the name SkyDrive from Microsoft. So soon (Microsoft doesn't tell more exactly) SkyDrive will become OneDrive, and SkyDrive Pro (the version available for business users of Office 365 and SharePoint 2013) - will become OneDrive for Business. Currently the OneDrive promo site is available, where you can provide your email to Microsoft marketers.


2012. Microsoft launched SkyDrive for Android



Earlier this month, Microsoft updated the online version of its file storage and sharing service SkyDrive (implemented the Metro-Windows-8 interface there), and today the company has released the mobile SkyDrive app for Android. It allows to access your files (including the files shared with you) from Android-smartphone or tablet, view and edit files in other applications, upload new and edited files back to the server. Besides this Android app, SkyDrive's mobile application works on iPhone / iPad and Windows Phone. Also, SkyDrive is by default built into Windows 8. Recall, SkyDrive competes with services like DropBox, Google Drive, SugarSync and provides 7 GB of free cloud storage, which is much larger than the competitors.


2012. New Office Web Apps add mobile touch interface, real-time collaboration



Microsoft started preview testing of the new version of its browser-based document editing applications Office Web Apps. Everybody can already join the preview on the SkyDrive or Office 365. The first thing that has changed - is the interface. It's now exactly like the upcoming Office 2013. And the main feature of this interface - is its adaption to the tablets with touch-screen. In general, the main objective pursued by Microsoft in this update - is to improve the performance of Office Web Apps on mobile devices (in mobile browsers). And the new mobile web interface for smartphones, is perhaps even better than its main competitor - Google Docs:


2012. SharePoint 2013 will include SkyDrive Pro



Together with Office 2013 Microsoft unveiled the beta version of SharePoint 2013. This is still an early version, and we won't review it so far (in particular, it's still no information about possible integration with Yammer). But one thing is this beta has already attracted great public interest - SkyDrive Pro. We have previously reported that SharePoint is being attacked by the army of file synchronization services called "Dropbox for Enterprise", and that SkyDrive's technology should help SharePoint to overcome these attacks. And so it happens, but as usual, Microsoft has added an element of chaos to this project. Why was it necessary to create a separate service called SkyDrive Pro? Why they just not added simple file sync functionality to SharePoint without inventing new titles? It's even more confusing as SkyDrive Pro won't replace the existing off-line client - SharePoint Workspace, but will be used along with it.


2012. SkyDrive comes to Windows, MacOS and iPad. Reduces free storage



SkyDrive, Microsoft’s online storage service continues to take on Dropbox and add support for new platforms. Following the applications for Windows Phone and iPhone, Microsoft has released the desktop client for Windows and Mac OS (OS X Lion). Also, the SkyDrive's mobile interface has been optimized for iPad tablets. SkyDrive for desktop works in the usual way - it creates a folder on your computer and all the files that you copy to this folder are automatically synced with your online account, as well as with your other computers or mobile devices that are running SkyDrive. And if in the online account you create a shared folder for your work-group, the service will be continuously syncing files between the computers of co-workers.


2012. Microsoft SkyDrive и OneNote landed on Android



So, Microsoft finally lost its fear of rival mobile platforms. Previously, the company launched the number of applications for the iPhone/iPad and even is working on the full-featured mobile Office for the iPad. And now it decided to make happy the Android users. Of course, it started with the apps for which being cross-platform is more important - the file storage SkyDrive and notebook/organizer OneNote. From now any files (including OneNote notebooks) can be synchronized between your Android-smartphone and your online SkyDrive account. However, there is a catch. While SkyDrive for Android - is completely free, the mobile OneNote app - is free only for up to 500 notes. After reaching this limit, you'll have to pay $4.99 (one-time fee) - and the restriction will be removed.


2012. Video: Google Docs vs SkyDrive


Microsoft continues to troll Google services with funny videos. At this time, they take on Google Docs. According to the scenario a group of young co-workers wants to creat a document and starts working on it in Google Docs. Naive guys don't know that Google Docs are only suitable for simple tasks and drawing a planetary system in Google Docs - is impossible. But it's possible in Microsoft SkyDrive. Even not in the Skidrive itself (it also can't do such complicated formatting) but in the desktop MS Office, that can edit the document simultaneously with the online SkyDrive editor. Note that Microsoft has removed the title Windows Live Office, which was used from the start to refer the online office, and now is using SkyDrive (that formerly was used to refer only the file storage).


2011. Microsoft created SkyDrive app for iPhone and Windows Phone


After the recent Microsoft's announcement that it's working on Office for iPad (by the way, today OneNote has become available for iPad), today's launch of the SkyDrive app for iPhone is not very surprising. From now the SkyDrive users can access their files on the iPhone, open them, share to others, create new folders and synchronize files to the online account. The same application has appeared for Windows Phone 7.5 (watch the video below). And judging by some vacancies that Microsoft posts on the job-sites, the company is already working on the SkyDrive version for Android. Recall, SkyDrive offers free 25GB of cloud storage, which is much larger than its main competitors: Box.net, DropBox and Google Docs.


2011. Microsoft updates Office 365 and SkyDrive. Adds new territories



Microsoft has released an update fro its online collaboration suite Office 365, which includes 30 new features. The most important of them are support for Windows Phone 7.5, opportunity to edit documents stored in SharePoint Online on Windows Phone, Lync client for Windows Phone and Mac, ability to integrate Sharepoint Online with third-party applications (via SharePoint Business Connectivity Services), improved file uploading and sharing tools. Microsoft also made Office 365 available in 22 new countries including Argentina, South Africa and Taiwan. Together with Office 365 its free mass-market alternative SkyDrive has been updated. It also features the new HTML5-uploader an slick file sharing (that we have already mentioned). These new features, and the new file management tools are shown in this video:


2011. Word Web App adds almost-real-time collaboration


When the MS Office Web Apps launched, only  the Excel Web App allowed to collaborate on online documents in real time. Now the trick is also available in the online Word. Though it's not so cool as in Google Docs. To let co-editors see your changes you have to click the Save button, then co-editors will see the notification in the status bar, then click Save and only then see your changes. There is no chat / comments like in Google Docs, but at least you can see who is currently editing every part of the document. Meanwhile co-authoring in the online Word works only in the free Windows Live Office (SkyDrive) and is not yet available in Office 365.


2011. Windows SkyDrive moves from Silverlight to HTML5


Microsoft has finally killed the intrigue on the future of Silverlight in web-applications (recall this intrigue emerged at the end of last year). The new version of the online file storage Windows SkyDrive (which works as the basis of all Windows Live services) is completely rebuilt on HTML5 instead of Silverlight (even video player is now working on HTML5). SkyDrive is now much faster and supports all browsers (even Google Chrome). Along with the underlying technology shift, the developers have rebuild the service interface - it's now very similar to the Windows folder interface. Moreover, users of Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 9 can get to SkyDrive directly from the taskbar and with one click create Word, Excel, PowerPoint documents in Office Web Apps online editors:


2011. Amazon Cloud Drive vs. Microsoft SkyDrive vs. Google Docs vs. Box.net



Last week, Amazon launched the new online file storage service Amazon Cloud Drive. And taking into account reputation of Amazon, as the online storage market leader, this event, of course, deserves our attention. Let's consider the advantages and disadvantages of this service compared to key competitors. The main parameters - are shown in the table (below). It's turns out that the main advantage of Amazon Cloud Drive - if free 5GB account  with maximum file size of 2GB. However, its main drawback negates this advantage: you can not share this large file with anyone. Amazon Cloud Drive doesn't allow to share files publicly or protected by password. I.e. the only way of using this service - is a private storage for backup or enhancing your productivity.