Microsoft Teases OneDrive Placeholder Feature, Will Announce More Details At Build
For many years, anyone who has used OneDrive back in the Windows 8 days has wanted one thing, placeholders. At Ignite this week in Atlanta, the company teased a new feature, which they are not naming, that appears to be a placeholder replacement.
Here’s what we know so far; the company is actively working to release a placeholder like feature for OneDrive and I believe this will arrive for both consumer and business users when the feature does arrive. The company did not announce a timeline for release but based on feedback on the UserVoice page for OneDrive, they will announce more details next year at Build.
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In the image above, which is showing the feature, you can see how files that are local are in full color and have a green checkmark whereas files still in the cloud are grayed out and show a cloud icon in the bottom left corner. One of the complaints about placeholders with Windows 8 was that users would get confused and think that they had their files locally and then when they went offline, could no longer access their content.
We don’t have a date yet for Build in 2017 but considering that they are working towards releasing the Redstone 2 update in late Spring, I would expect the show to align to that release window. Knowing this, it seems likely this feature will be included in Redstone 2.
OneDrive has gone through a series of changes recently, most notably the reduction of free storage. With the return of a placeholder-like feature, the company will likely appease its longtime users and will also give Onedrive feature-parity with DropBox who has announced their own intention to bring a placeholder functionality to its platform.
Image Credit:Â Maximilian Melcher