OneDrive for Business has been recognised as an industry leader and is continuing to make strides with spring updates, including solutions to the syncing problems that users faced previously.

Previous Syncing Issues

OneDrive for business has been around for a while, however due to certain restrictions, users began getting frustrated particularly with syncing documents.

Businesses use SharePoint which works brilliantly, however when accessing files without being connected to the web, problems started. When more users tried to collaborate using OneDrive, once one person encountered a problem it could often spread. When the problem spreads, users attempt to re-sync all at the same time which brings the business’ internet connection to a standstill as bandwidth is consumed simultaneously with the re-syncing.

You ended up struggling to access files without an internet connection. The problems came from the option to be able to sync up to 20000 items in your OneDrive for Business library which included folders and files. You could also sync up to 5000 items in a SharePoint library.

The OneDrive for Business Updates

Following feedback from users, Microsoft have recently updated OneDrive for Business with multiple changes:

  • Windows 8.1 support
  • Office 2016 integration, so you can do real-time co-authoring, open documents from the most recent list and share documents from within the Office app will be available
  • Improved setup, so it’s easier to get andinstall the new OneDrive sync client
  • Pause sync, a handy feature when you want to suspend syncing for a period of time
  • View files online, by right clicking on any document in Windows Explorer and selecting “view online”, this helps you to navigate to the OneDrive for Business file or folder in the browser.
  • Added support for file types such as .json, .aspx, .swf files and more. You can now add any file type to your OneDrive for Business
  • Block file types from syncing to save bandwidth
  • Performance and reliability improvements which gives small files in particular a big boost in upload and download speed.
  • Selective Sync allows users to designate which specific online folders they would like to sync to, rather than them all.

You can find the full updates from Microsoft OneDrive for Business here.

More to come…

Microsoft have also promised that more updates are on their way to enhance user experience with OneDrive for Business, so we’ll keep you updated when they do.

If you’re looking to make the most of these new and improved updates from Microsoft 365, get in touch with us for a free 10 minute demonstration on how it can help you and your business.