Microsoft releases new design of consumer version OneDrive

Microsoft has started rolling out a new design of the consumer version of OneDrive. This contains a changed interface, which, according to Microsoft, should ensure that users can access their files faster. There will also be some new features.

The home screen design is somewhat simplified, shows Microsoft. For example, the ‘New’ buttons, which allow users to start a new document, and ‘Upload’, which allows users to upload an existing document to OneDrive, have been merged into a single button, ‘Add New’, integrated into the left sidebar. In addition, it is now possible to filter on file types, such as Word, Excel or PDF files.

Furthermore, a ‘Browse files by people’ option has been added. This makes it possible to see per person which files they have shared with you. Previously, users could only find these files by file name. Microsoft promises that the updated design will be available to all users before the end of February.

Last year, the company released a similar UI change for the business version of OneDrive. Microsoft then announced that from the beginning of 2024 it should also be possible to work with ‘natural searches’, such as the search query: ‘camping in the autumn, in the mountains with Caroline’. However, that function does not seem to be available yet.