Microsoft has a problem when it comes to sticking with product names. With the exception of Windows and Office, it seems to re-brand its offerings every few years. Sometimes it's arbitrary (at least to customers). Sometimes it's because of legalities.
Take FolderShare, for instance, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2005 and promptly renamed Windows Live FolderShare—because everything was called "Live" back then. In the years since, it has been Windows Live Mesh, Essentials, Live Folders, and SkyDrive.
SkyDrive is a great name, but it was taken. Sort of. Microsoft got sued in the U.K. by broadcaster BSkyB for using the word "Sky." A court agreed that it infringed a trademark, and Microsoft had to rebrand again. In keeping with other products like OneNote and Xbox One, it went with OneDrive.
OneDrive really should be a bigger name than it is. But Microsoft isn't as synonymous with cloud/sync as Dropbox or Google Drive. The latter has the excellent integration of Docs and Sheets for online editing, but OneDrive has something arguably better: full integration with Office Online (formerly Office Web Apps; see what I mean about renaming?). Office Online houses the online versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Plus, OneDrive is integrated directly with Windows—no utility needed. All it takes to access OneDrive is a Microsoft account. The service will sync files between all your Windows and Mac computers, which you can access online via mobile apps and the Web.
OneDrive is a favorite of PCMag analysts. It also made a big splash announcing unlimited online storage in 2014, but recently took that option away thanks to a small number of users who abused the privilege, Microsoft claims. Redmond is also killing free storage on your smartphone's camera roll.
The free tier of OneDrive storage is now a measly 5GB, down from 15, for existing users. Office 365 subscribers, who used to get the unlimited, will get only 1TB at no cost. Those without Office subscriptions have to pay $1.99 a month for 50GB (down from 100GB), all of which will take effect in 2016. Files stored with OneDrive can also now be as big as 10GB, up from 2GB. (Dropbox file size is unlimited.)
After you set your storage, you set it and forget it, right? You shouldn't. There's a lot more to OneDrive than that. Check out our list of tips in the slideshow. You'll get the scoop on exactly what you need to take full advantage of a service that could be named Windows Live SkyFolderShareMeshDrive... but thankfully, is not.
This story was first published on Nov. 4, 2014.
Increase Your 5GB of Storage with Camera Backup
Not happy with that new 5GB allotment you get free? You can refer new users to OneDrive—that'll nab you a paltry 0.5GB (500MB) of new space per person taking you up on the referal, up to a max of 5GB. Microsoft makes it easy to invite people, even via social networks. That'll take forever, and doesn't net much, but it's the only option Microsoft will allow going forward, since it's also discontinuing the 15GB extra it once gave to users who turned on automatic photo backup in OneDrive mobile apps.
Use IFTTT to Create OneDrive Magic
With if this, then that (IFTTT), you can automate all your Web-based services, and make them work together in ways you might not have otherwise imagined. OneDrive is just one of the channels of IFTTT. It doesn't have any triggers itself, but there's plenty you can do with other channels that will put files in your OneDrive. Here is a quick sampling of recipes:
Save Photos You're Tagged in on Facebook to OneDrive
Upload all new iOS Photos to One Drive
Download Favorited Tracks on SoundCloud to OneDrive
Archive All Gmail Attachments to OneDrive
Upload all new Flickr Photos to OneDrive
Store Android Pictures on OneDrive
Back Up Instagram Images to OneDrive
Save Photos You're Tagged in on Facebook to OneDrive
Upload all new iOS Photos to One Drive
Download Favorited Tracks on SoundCloud to OneDrive
Archive All Gmail Attachments to OneDrive
Upload all new Flickr Photos to OneDrive
Store Android Pictures on OneDrive
Back Up Instagram Images to OneDrive
Share or Embed Folders/Files
Sharing a file from OneDrive is as easy as you'd expect. From the Web, right click a file to get a shareable link (the link can allow people to view an item only, or you may allow editing privileges), send the link by email, or share directly in Facebook (if that social network is connected to your OneDrive account).
Embedding is more for displaying something—like when you embed a YouTube video on a Web page. The Embed command will generate HTML code you can then use on a blog or webpage. (The social networks, like Twitter or Facebook, are usually fine with the link you get from the Share option.)
You're not limited to sharing or embedding individual files. You can do either with an entire folder full of files. Sadly, OneDrive doesn't let other people put stuff in the embedded folder, so you can't use it to collect items from your audience. Then again, maybe that's a good thing.
Embedding is more for displaying something—like when you embed a YouTube video on a Web page. The Embed command will generate HTML code you can then use on a blog or webpage. (The social networks, like Twitter or Facebook, are usually fine with the link you get from the Share option.)
You're not limited to sharing or embedding individual files. You can do either with an entire folder full of files. Sadly, OneDrive doesn't let other people put stuff in the embedded folder, so you can't use it to collect items from your audience. Then again, maybe that's a good thing.
Change Windows Sync Settings
OneDrive is part of the sync settings between all your Windows PCs. You can change the settings so you don't always have the same apps (the Windows 8 Metro type), wallpapers, start screens, etc. Just go into OneDrive by right clicking the icon in the Windows system tray, select OneDrive Storage, and click to Sync Settings. Or just turn off the PC syncing functions entirely.
Read OneDrive Files Offline
In Windows, right click that OneDrive icon in the system tray again. Select Settings. The first tab only has a couple of options, but one you probably should try if you have a big hard drive on that particular PC: "Make all files available even when this PC isn't connected to the Internet." That means even when you're offline, especially with a laptop out of Wi-Fi range, you can still work on files. They'll sync up again with the online storage when that PC is next attached to the Internet.
Access File Versions
When you overwrite a file on the PC, the old version is usually toast. Luckily, sync/backup services like OneNote exist. That might not seem like much help, since if you overwrite a file on the PC, the sync function just grabs the overwritten file. But, OneDrive saves every new version change to your documents, especially for Office files from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Thus, if you overwrite a file, go to the Web interface, right click the file to access Version History, and you'll see the full set of clickable options on the left, including restoring the older version to make it the current version. Or just download it as a backup. You also get the option to start editing that version in the online app or the full program.
Save All Office Files to OneDrive
If it's not clear already, OneDrive and Microsoft Office programs like Word and Excel are heavily intertwined, to the point that your OneDrive folder is the default place to save your files from the programs themselves. You can tell you're signed into your Microsoft account while in Word or OneNote, for example, if your name and profile pic are showing in the upper right corner of a document window. If not, sign in by going to File>Account. You can click Add a service to add OneDrive if it's not already there after you sign into your Microsoft account, but it should be.
After that, whenever you save a new document, if you're online, the first option that comes up should be OneDrive – Personal (as opposed to the OneDrive – Business account some offices and schools use.) Click Browse and you'll get a listing in Windows Explorer of the local OneDrive folders on your hard drive—the folders that are automatically synced with the online service, and then to other computers. Click the Pin icon next to any folder you'll use a lot (such as OneDrive > Documents) and it'll always be an option.
Naturally, you can save data from any Windows program to those OneDrive folders and they'll get synced (just like you'd do with the local folders for Dropbox or Google Drive). If you've got a secondary OneDrive account, click "Add a Place" and you'll get the option to access that secondary account (or an Office 365 SharePoint volume if your office has one).
After that, whenever you save a new document, if you're online, the first option that comes up should be OneDrive – Personal (as opposed to the OneDrive – Business account some offices and schools use.) Click Browse and you'll get a listing in Windows Explorer of the local OneDrive folders on your hard drive—the folders that are automatically synced with the online service, and then to other computers. Click the Pin icon next to any folder you'll use a lot (such as OneDrive > Documents) and it'll always be an option.
Naturally, you can save data from any Windows program to those OneDrive folders and they'll get synced (just like you'd do with the local folders for Dropbox or Google Drive). If you've got a secondary OneDrive account, click "Add a Place" and you'll get the option to access that secondary account (or an Office 365 SharePoint volume if your office has one).
Use Mobile Apps for Uploads
Even through OneDrive comes off as pretty PC-centric due to the ties with Microsoft Office products, there are of course mobile apps for your smartphones and tablets. Using the apps to upload files is a breeze, beyond the previously mentioned camera backup. On Android, for example, just go into a folder, click the Upload icon (an up-pointing arrow) and find the file you want to be stored and synced. On iOS, go into the folder, click the 3-dot icon at top, then click Add Items—you'll have option to upload from stored files in any app that iOS can access, such as the photos, but also apps like Instagram.
OneDrive on Xbox
There's an app for OneDrive available on Xbox 360 and the Xbox One (on the latter, find it via a Bing search). It's a perfect way to watch personal images or videos on the big screen. Any videos stored in MP4, MOV, and M4V format should be able to play back without issue—and even videos auto-uploaded from an iPhone (even if originally shot with an app like Vine, Instagram, or Hyperlapse) will play. In fact, when sharing, OneDrive will actually re-encode video on the fly to suit the player. That means a big file is reduced in size to stream better to a smartphone. Still images play as a slideshow. Sadly, strangely, you can't play MP3 audio files stored on OneDrive (on Xbox, or anywhere else).
Watch for App Passwords with 2FA
If you're smart, you've signed up your Microsoft account to use two-factor authentication (2FA) for maximum security. (Here's a page describing how to set it up.) It requires you to have more than just a password to sign in, which is important in the digital age. One of the options with 2FA from Microsoft is to use an "app password," a one-time-use password used to sign into Microsoft services. You need an app password when the service you want to access is on a platform with no option to enter the secondary code you generally get on your smartphone. I ran into it when signing on to OneDrive on an Xbox 360—my normal Microsoft account password did not work, because there was no way to enter the extra code Microsoft sends for secondary authentiation. To get access, I went to the Security & Privacy section of Microsoft's Live account settings, clicked "Create a New App Password" and got a 16-character bit of gobbledygook (see image above) that the Xbox gladly accepted as a password for OneDrive.
Set Up PIN Code on Mobile
Need an extra smidgen of security? On the mobile OneDrive apps, under settings, activate Require Code and you'll be asked for a 4-digit personal identification number (PIN). Thereafter, you'll need to enter that number to access the OneDrive files online via the app. iOS users with an iPhone 5 or later with a Touch ID fingerprint scanner now have the option to use their fingerprint as access (the 4-digit PIN is still required as backup).
Examine Photo Stats
Like Flickr, when you look at a photo uploaded to OneDrive, you can also see all the photo's EXIF data, the hidden meta-data that tells you a lot about the photo. OneDrive will even display a Bing map showing where the image was shot, based on the geographic data in the file, and what camera it was taken with. Take the extra time to tag the photo and it'll be easier to find in future searches.
Access Other PCs Over OneDrive
One amazing thing OneDrive does for Windows users is allow access to files on all your PCs—even if the files aren't in your OneDrive folders. In the Web interface, you'll see a PCs section, and the name of each PC on the account is listed. If the other PC is turned on, you can click the name and access all the folders on it, assuming you allowed the permissions for it on that PC. It's mainly for access to Office files and photos/videos—it didn't help me find any MP3 audio for some reason—but this is a strong feature even with caveats, and is probably only going to get stronger in future versions of OneDrive and Windows. It doesn't exist from the mobile apps.
Better Photo Organization
OneDrive supports folders, of course, but now also has albums. The difference is, folders are more for storage, Albums are more for display. You get bigger thumbnail images to search through, and when you view a picture in an album, it goes full screen (you can access all the photo info on a pop-up menu). You don't need to move photos into an album—if you've got several folders full of vacation images, or some got stuck in your email attachments, etc., just make one album and pull from all of the folders. You can then share that album with others, and keep changing the album even after that. Albums launched first on the Web and iOS apps, and will soon be on Android and Windows Phone.
Search with Bing
Use the integrated Bing search to find specific OneDrive files. It will look at the text inside Office documents, PDF files, and at the tags you assign to images (or the tags OneDrive auto-assigns). In theory, you don't have to do much organization of whatever you put on OneDrive, since you can find it all with a clean search.
Outlook.com Attachments Saved
The Save to OneDrive feature makes it possible to instantly back up a file attached to an email message in Outlook.com directly to an "Email Attachments" folder on OneDrive. Pictures, video, documents, audio, whatever it is, send it to OneDrive and access it anywhere—and now you don't have to email it to yourself to access it online later.
Outlook.com Attachments Saved
The Save to OneDrive feature makes it possible to instantly back up a file attached to an email message in Outlook.com directly to an "Email Attachments" folder on OneDrive. Pictures, video, documents, audio, whatever it is, send it to OneDrive and access it anywhere—and now you don't have to email it to yourself to access it online later.