Microsoft is pushing what looks like the biggest feature update to OneDrive in a long time. After pushing Copilot AI tools in the Office suite of apps and integrating agents powered by Anthropic’s Claude chatbot, Microsoft is pushing similar perks to its cloud storage users. Let’s start with Copilot AI, which is being integrated in the same fashion as Gemini across Google services.
AI for files, but the meaningful kind
In OneDrive, users now see a new floating Copilot icon that will let them perform tasks by simply describing the chore at hand. For example, you can pick any PDF, doc, slide, or image file, and have Copilot summarize its contents for you. It can also offer a recap of meetings, extract details from images, and answer specific questions, as well.
Microsoft says you can ask Copilot to perform tasks using natural language commands such as “What are the main action items in this deck?” and “Show me changes from this document since the last version.” Interestingly, Copilot can also turn meeting summaries into audio overviews, just the way Google’s NotebookLM tool turns study and research material into interactive podcasts.
OneDrive is also getting the ability to create dedicated one-click shortcuts for files and folders so that you can quickly access them in the file manager. Additionally, the File Explorer is getting a dedicated section where all the assets shared via OneDrive are clubbed together.
Ease of sharing, searching, and editing
Microsoft’s cloud storage service is also getting a new system called hero links. Essentially, it’s somewhat similar to how Google Drive links work, where you simply add a person and then decide their level of access, such as editor, viewer, and more.
OneDrive is going a step further by generating a summary so that the recipient of these hero links gets an idea about the contents. Another convenient addition is bulk transfer, which lets users transfer the entire cache of files from one owner to another.
Finally, Copilot is also getting an AI-powered search feature that lets users find media by describing it in words. And on mobile devices, they can use AI for editing and also club blurry photos to get a sharper shot using a new Photo Stacks feature.
