OneDrive gets mobile offline mode and new sync clients

Microsoft has published a roadmap showing which functionality will be rolled out for OneDrive in the coming quarters. Among other things, various offline features for mobile devices are coming to the storage service.

Microsoft unveiled the roadmap for 2015 at its Ignite event currently being held in Chicago. In Q3, Microsoft will add offline viewing to its iOS and Android apps for mobile devices, and in Q4, that capability will come to smartphones, tablets, and PCs running Windows through a universal Windows app. At an undisclosed moment, offline editing and offline folders should also come to OneDrive.

In the third quarter, Microsoft will preview new sync clients for Windows and OS X systems, with final versions expected to be released by the end of 2015. With that release, the OneDrive for Business and consumer versions will continue as a universal client, with the business variant inheriting functionality from the consumer OneDrive.

In addition, support for PDF annotations related to the iOS and Android clients is on the agenda and modern OneDrive attachment capabilities for Outlook should be rolled out.