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OneDrive placeholders to return as OneDrive Files On-Demand in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

By Ng Chong Seng - on 11 May 2017, 11:30pm

OneDrive placeholders to return as OneDrive Files On-Demand in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

If you’ve used Windows 8.1 before, you’ll know of OneDrive placeholders, a feature that kept a small file on your local machine and showed you a thumbnail of the original file stored in the cloud; and when you clicked on it, the file would be downloaded and opened. It was a smart way to save storage space, but it also confused some users when they couldn’t open the files without an internet connection. There were enough complaints that Microsoft removed the feature from Windows altogether.

But the removal also caused an outcry, especially among power users. And it was only at the Ignite conference last October that Microsoft finally confirmed that OneDrive placeholders would be returning under the name On-Demand Sync. However, that was also the last time we heard of it. Until today at the Build conference, that is.

Yes, after three long years, there’s finally a successor to the useful but flawed OneDrive placeholders, and it’s called OneDrive Files On-Demand.

Coming to Windows Insider Preview builds early this summer and officially shipping in the Fall Creators Update later this year, OneDrive Files On-Demand once again offers offline support through smart caching, so everything should feel fast and responsive. More importantly, it’s now deeply embedded in the OS, so very little (if any) action is required on the developers’ or users’ part.

According to Microsoft, you'll see all your files in File Explorer, even online ones. You can open online files from within desktop or Windows Store apps using the Windows file picker. Better yet, OneDrive Files On-Demand works with the consumer and business versions of OneDrive, as well as SharePoint Online team sites.

In this example, the folder selected in the SharePoint Online team site contains 1.37TB of content, but it takes up zero bytes of storage on the disk.

There are also several use states exposed in the UI, so you should be able to tell if a file is stored locally on the device or the cloud. For files that you need to access when you don’t have an internet connection, you can easily make files or folders always available by right-clicking and selecting 'Always keep on this device'.

You can choose to always keep files on the disk.

OneDrive Files On-Demand will benefit organizations and IT admins, too. For example, today, when someone syncs a SharePoint Online team site, files are re-downloaded on all synced devices when anyone makes a change. Files On-Demand will reduce network bandwidth by eliminating the need to continuously sync shared files on every synced device as teams collaborate.

In addition to Files On-Demand, the OneDrive team has also announced new features coming to Android and iOS devices. One of them is OneDrive Offline Folders, a feature that lets you save folders to your mobile device and open them when you don’t have an internet connection. Changes made by other users to the files while you’re offline will automatically be updated the next time you've an internet connection. This new feature is already available to Office 365 Personal and Home subscribers and OneDrive business accounts using Android devices, and will be rolling out to iOS in the next few months.

Another one is OneDrive for iMessage, a feature that lets you easily share files on iOS without leaving your iMessage conversation. You can choose to share an entire folder or a single file, as well as preview documents and photos shared with you in iMessage. This feature is rolling out to the latest version of OneDrive iOS app today.

Open OneDrive in iMessage and click a file to share it in your conversation.

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