Microsoft OneDrive
Microsoft OneDrive is an online file-hosting service that uses the principles of cloud computing to provide users with a secure way to store many of their files in an accessible and efficient manner. Files stored on OneDrive can be accessed from any computer when the user logs into their account in a web browser. Microsoft OneDrive offers both free and paid versions for personal use and several paid plans for business use. There are three business plans, two storage-only and one that bundles storage and Office365 Business Premium. The amounts of storage for the personal use plans range from 5GB with the free version up to 5TB. Users can store files such as documents, spreadsheets, photos, and music, as well as share their uploaded files with other users. All plans, including the free version, provide access to the online versions of Microsoft products such as Word and PowerPoint. The paid personal plans offer offline access so that users can access their folders and work on their documents even when there is no Internet.
- Integrated Microsoft Office products
- File sharing, with real-time updates & sync
- Included with Windows 10
- Web based versions of Microsoft Office products will be familiar to most users and easy to use for document editing
- File sharing and online access allows users to get the documents they need when and where they need them, as well as making it easy to collaborate on a document
- Security & encryption isn’t the most robust
- Most plans have sharing limits
- No real versioning system on personal plans
The Microsoft OneDrive cloud service, which is included with Windows 10 and is available for older versions of Windows as well as for mobile, is fairly easy to use for even casual computer users and offers a variety of advanced features that are very convenient for users seeking more in-depth functionality. The 5GB of free storage provide a lot of space for users who just want to store some of their files in the cloud for easy access, and more storage can be added inexpensively since plans are reasonably priced. Unlike other cloud storage services,which offer only limited web based editing abilities, Microsoft includes access to a fully functional web based suite of its Office products with all OneDrive plans including the free version. OneDrive’s web based Microsoft Office products are incredibly useful for easily working with documents, seamlessly editing across multiple platforms, and viewing files exactly as the author created them. Did you just discover that you need access to a file on your home PC but you forgot to upload it to OneDrive? No problem! One incredibly useful unique feature of OneDrive is the fetch feature, which allows users to access any file on a PC on which OneDrive is installed and authorized.