Microsoft's OneDrive updates for May include file sharing improvements and more

As is the case every month, Microsoft has detailed the changes and improvements made to OneDrive across platforms in the month of May. This time, the list is a long one containing a bunch of features added for IT admins, mobile apps, and more. These are in addition to the macOS-specific improvements announced last week.

First up is the updated file picker for Yammer. The file upload dialog in Yammer now resembles the OneDrive file structure, with the ‘Pick file’ option displaying OneDrive files by default along with the libraries on the system and SharePoint files in Teams. Another nifty improvement addition of the option to open Immersive Reader directly in OneDrive and SharePoint, allowing users to not just read out documents, but tailor the look of the feature from within the services.

In line with the promise to bring sharing experience enhancements across the cloud storage platform, the Redmond firm has added a new Link settings section to the link sharing dialog on SharePoint on OneDrive for business. This lets users quickly tweak access permission settings and generating a link for the document.

Another useful addition for business customers that was added last month relates to sharing documents with external users. Now, admins can choose to pre-set expiration dates to files shared with external users to avoid providing access to those users beyond what is necessary. These can be enabled in the SharePoint admin center and apply to files shared on SharePoint as well as OneDrive. Admins will also be given the ability to extend access timelines to external users as desired. Speaking of IT admins, OneDrive will now let admins exclude specific file types from being synced with OneDrive.

OneDrive for iOS and Android have also received a bunch of new features, especially relating to the PDF viewer feature. Users can now jump to a specific page in PDFs via the Jump to Page feature. Additionally, for PDFs with outline metadata can now tie in with the Outline feature to let users navigate easily to the different sections in the PDF.