Microsoft is introducing new features for OneDrive, including Favorites for easy file access, shortcuts for efficient file collection, simplified sharing, and the ability to open files in their desktop apps directly from OneDrive. Additionally, OneDrive will be integrated into Teams and Outlook, providing seamless access to files and sharing links.
Offline file access and sync will also be extended to the browser experience on OneDrive for Web in early 2024.
The new features for OneDrive include Copilot-generated file summaries, enhanced security tools, and cross-tenant OneDrive migration to improve knowledge management and security. The security tools offer granular access controls, restricted access for specific security groups, and a block download policy. Collaboration insights are also being developed to identify data leakage risks from external collaboration, said Microsoft in a blog post.
When you want to share these files with other people, Copilot can generate summaries to include with the share links so your coworkers have more context. Lastly, Copilot can make it easier than ever to catchup on important updates to your content. Imagine seeing a daily digest in OneDrive that shows new files shared with you, changes to files you’ve shared, new comments, documents relevant to upcoming meetings, and suggestions for follow-up actions.
With the shift towards distributed work and the growth of file sharing, the importance of security has skyrocketed. The new tools are available in the SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) add-on empower admins to protect content from over-exposure, tighten access when needed, govern sharing, and even help migrate content safely during mergers and acquisitions. Each of the capabilities below is currently available to customers worldwide unless otherwise noted.
Granular conditional access policies: You may want to fine-tune the access requirements for people who use confidential files, so that they don’t accidentally access and leak sensitive information. For example, if a person often works with confidential files, you can now add multi-factor authentication to the site to impact only that person’s access requirements. 2 Learn more.
Restricted access control: As users share files, they give others inside and outside of your organization access to those files. The restricted access control policy for OneDrive lets you block people from accessing shared files in specific OneDrive accounts by limiting OneDrive access to members of a specific security group. For example, if you discover that people have access to certain confidential files, you can fine-tune the access so that only users in a specified security group have access. 2 Learn more.
Moving OneDrive accounts across tenants: Mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures are a fact of life, and many organization go through them. In these scenarios, you may have a need to move OneDrive accounts from one tenant to another. Now with cross-tenant OneDrive migration, you can easily move OneDrive accounts across tenants, and all existing sharing links will continue to work with the redirect feature.
Block download policy: As a SharePoint administrator or a Global administrator in Microsoft 365, you can block the download of files and Teams meeting recordings from SharePoint sites or OneDrive. This feature can be set for individual sites, but not at the organization level. When enabled, users will have browser-only access with no ability to download, print, or sync files. 2 Learn more.
Collaboration insights: External collaboration is the main source of data leakage due to accidental sharing. Now, you can identify user-centric collaboration and sharing patterns across your organization. This capability is currently in private preview; register for more information.
