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Microsoft sees the world has moved on, cranks OneDrive file size upload limit from 15GB to more useful 100GB

Hunting for the right file is the 'bane to anyone's productivity' allegedly

Microsoft is rolling out a swathe of updates to OneDrive, increasing the upload file limit for the cloudy bit barn from 15GB to 100GB.

"Where can I find that file?" wrote Seth Patton, general manager for Microsoft 365, in the announcement – "five short words, which are the bane to anyone's productivity."

We're pretty sure that's six words. We've got an alternative five if sapping productivity is your thing: "This meeting is in Teams."

But back to OneDrive. The overnight updates target business and personal users alike, and while the existing storage limits aren't being raised (you'll need to lob some cash Microsoft's way for that), the increase from 15GB to 100GB will be welcomed by those dealing with large files. It also comfortably breezes past the 50GB limit imposed by rival DropBox for uploads.

DropBox does not, however, put a limit on files uploaded via its desktop or mobile apps, and sets a 350GB limit for files uploaded through its API.

Regardless, that 15GB was starting to look a little weedy in the modern world. Media files can easily exceed it, and the company also gave a nod to 3D and CAD file sizes. The recently introduced differential sync will also help in shunting the bits to and from Microsoft's cloud.

Other changes include the deactivation of notifications for comments on individual files as well as sharing internal links copied from a browser bar with colleagues (if enabled by an organisation's administrator).

Business users will soon see a preview of the ability to add shared folders directly to OneDrive, including Teams or SharePoint content, and Teams will also gain the same file sharing and access control "experience" known and loved by those using other Microsoft 365 apps.

Another update incoming for business users will also see the OneDrive sync app support read and write sync for shared libraries that contain required metadata (rather than the read-only of today). Later this summer the gang plans to roll out the ability to maintain permissions when a file changes location.

Consumers also received a little love with the impending arrival of family and group sharing on OneDrive for the web. While sharing has been possible for a while, the new functionality will allow a bunch of people (all requiring Microsoft accounts, alas) to be grouped together for file and folder-sharing purposes. ®

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