Microsoft revealed some of the improvements on SkyDrive when it previewed Windows 8.1 at the Build 2013 conference. The cloud storage service is deeply integrated in the latest OS but it did not reveal all the secrets. Microsoft showed off some of the tricks on how users will be able to access their SkyDrive files even when they are offline without having to store the entire file locally.
The improvements start with a new feature called placeholder files wherein Microsoft gives users access to files or documents without actually downloading the entire file. These files will look the same and users will be able to perform any task like copy, paste, rename, etc, but in reality are only a thumbnail of the real file stored in the backend.
The improvements start with a new feature called placeholder files wherein Microsoft gives users access to files or documents without actually downloading the entire file. These files will look the same and users will be able to perform any task like copy, paste, rename, etc, but in reality are only a thumbnail of the real file stored in the backend.
Then there’s offline access to files. You can select what file or folder you want to access offline and any changes you make to them will be updated the next time you go online. The edits will also be synced across devices so no matter what device you use to open a document it will always be the latest file. Finally, there is a new feature called file picker, which essentially saves files to the local disk when you are offline and the moment you go online it will upload them to the SkyDrive.
