Microsoft blurs the line between desktop and cloud with OneDrive update

desktop and cloud - managed solution

Microsoft blurs the line between desktop and cloud with OneDrive update

By Sarah Perez as written on techcrunch.com
At Microsoft’s Build 2017 event today, the company introduced a new feature for the company’s cloud storage service OneDrive that will allow you to access your files without using up device storage. Called “Files On-Demand,” the feature will roll out along with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and will give users more control over which files are stored locally versus in the cloud.
The feature is basically Microsoft’s own take on Dropbox’s Smart Sync, as it lets you view all the files and folders directly in File Explorer, instead of only seeing those you’ve opted to sync to your device.
The idea is that the more you use online storage – creating files and uploading photos and working across multiple devices – the more you need to be able to see all your documents, and not worry if you had forgotten to sync something to your current device.
But while Dropbox’s Smart Sync was introduced as a feature for business users, OneDrive’s Files On-Demand supports your personal and work OneDrive accounts, as well as SharePoint Online team sites.
In addition, your OneDrive files won’t just be visible on your desktop, they’ll also be shown in the file picker when you’re using a Windows store application. When you select a given file from the picker, it will automatically download and open in the app – like a local file would.
The user interface in Windows 10 File Explorer will also be updated so you can better see which files are available on the device and in the cloud, thanks to the use of a small cloud icon in a column labeled “Status.” You’ll still be able to tell how much storage space the file will require if you choose to download it, as its size information is available in Explorer as well, even if the file isn’t yet on your device.
You can also choose to make certain folders or files always available offline with a right-click, then choosing “Always keep on this device” from the menu.
However, you generally won’t have to go through this process – it’s only really necessary if you know you’ll be spending a lot of time offline and don’t want to lose access to your more critical folders and files. Most times, while you’re connected to the internet, you can just double-click files and usual to open them into an app, and the file will automatically download to your device.
The feature has another benefit for larger organizations using SharePoint Online team sites – it will reduce the network bandwidth by reducing the continual syncing that occurs today when changes are made.
At present, when anyone makes a change, files are re-downloaded on all synced devices. This is no longer necessary, as the files in their updated format will be available whenever the user clicks them.
While Files On-Demand works well on desktop devices, on mobile, connectivity is often more of an issue. Microsoft addressed this by introducing a new option that will allow users to save entire folders to your mobile device, so you can open the files they contain once you have a connection again. Changes others make to those files while you’re offline will be automatically updated once you’re connected again.
This feature is available now on Android for Office 365 Personal and Home subscribers and OneDrive business accounts. iOS users will receive the update in a few months.
However, iOS users can today use OneDrive with iMessage. You can share an entire folder or file directly within the iMessage interface. These documents and photos can also be instantly previewed here, through this new integration.

Introducing SharePoint content services

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Introducing SharePoint content services

By Chris McNulty as written on 
Our pivot to content services began at Ignite 2016 in Atlanta, where we presented a breakout session on SharePoint ECM. You can watch the entire session below:

Shaping and controlling content from creation to final disposition means many different things. We think it’s important to define our terms. Enterprise content management needs to adopt a holistic approach to managing the entire lifecycle of document creation, sharing, consumption, reuse, knowledge and records management, archiving and disposal.
That’s why we believe it’s time to reflect the changes in how content is created, shared, sustained and reused. Content services reflect a more focused suite of empowered capabilities than traditional ECM, and represent the next wave in ECM.
Content services is people-centric, allowing for personal management (copy, move, hashtag) and organizational management (knowledge management, record retention, information lifecycle management). Policy and security protects content at all phases of its life. It’s a core tenet that content should supply business value throughout, instead of after-the-fact management of dormant assets.
What happens when all that content comes into SharePoint? A common, incorrect impression of SharePoint has been that it’s a great tool to manage team content, but you need an “old-fashioned ECM system for scalability” or “true records management.” Neither of those are true today, with SharePoint having incredible scalability of up to 30-trillion documents and up to 12.5 EB in a single SharePoint Online tenant. OneDrive and SharePoint also inherit our Office 365 capabilities to create record and retention policy tags that can be applied to any content (interactively or by matching a known set of content fingerprints).

Principles of content services—create, coordinate, protect and harvest

Content services is as much about document creation as consumption. In many cases, content has become less about static images and reports, and more about dynamic documents that are created and edited many times in their lifespans. This trend is something we call content velocity, where the content picks up velocity as it is created, edited and reused, becoming more valuable, instead of becoming a dormant archive of little value, as was traditionally the case. We view this as an evergreen cycle of authoring, collaboration, control and reuse.

Create

Content velocity means documents need to be “born” managed. Newer SharePoint and OneDrive capabilities are designed to support this:
OneDrive for Business is the best place to store and manage your documents, giving you the “My Documents” concept on any device. As you share and collaborate with others, content evolves and picks up velocity. When final, you can easily bring it to SharePoint for publishing and permanent storage.

Coordinate

Content in SharePoint is maintained in modern document libraries, making it easy to structure graphically rich, dynamic views of content and metadata. SharePoint’s managed metadata service provides a centralized way to tag and classify information. Tagging and customizing the view can all be accomplished from the library home screen, eliminating multiple clicks to open a property editing screen.
Documents in libraries can be easily shared to Office 365 Groups, and reused in other collaborative apps like Microsoft Teams. In addition, Microsoft Flow can be used to automate common actions, like collecting attachments from email or distributing documents for team review.

Protect

SharePoint already builds on a long tradition of capabilities supporting information lifecycle governance, records management and eDiscovery. Newer capabilities, developed as part of our ongoing engagement with the entire Office 365 suite, include:
Learn more about our approach to content security in SharePoint and OneDrive by downloading the white paper “File Security in SharePoint and OneDrive for Business.”

Harvest

Content shouldn’t be saved and stored and managed just to fill up storage space. Traditional ECM often concludes with document disposal or retention. We believe that modern content services are cyclical. Content exists to support a future business purpose, such as providing information on a related decision, explaining a historic context or seeding the next cycle of content creation.

Summary

We recognize that effective adoption of SharePoint content services takes some time. At Ignite, we also presented a section on best practices for traditional ECM and modern content services. Please see today’s blog post on the Microsoft Tech Community for more details.
We appreciate the consideration given to our tools by analysts—like Forrester—and are honored that many enterprises are choosing SharePoint as the foundation for content services and digital workplace transformation. We’re already at work planning our next generation of SharePoint content services solutions, and can’t wait to share more with you later this year at our SharePoint Virtual Summit in May 2017 and at Ignite 2017.
SharePoint has long been a strategic platform for collecting and servicing all sorts of content across the enterprise. As part of our ongoing reinvention of SharePoint started in 2016, we’ve begun rolling out enhancements to optimize use and management of content throughout the entire information lifecycle.
We’ll have many more exciting innovations throughout 2017.

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Collaborate on Files From Anywhere

collaborate on files - managed solution

Collaborate on Files From Anywhere

As written on products.office.com

Store, sync, and share files simply

Always have the latest version of files

Having your files stored online makes it easy to store, organize, and share them, so you can work on documents with teammates, share reports with business partners, or connect with customers. Your files are always up to date, so everyone has access to the latest version.

Get room for all your files

With 1 TB of personal document storage, you can store all your files online and access them anywhere from your PC/Mac or your iOS, Android™, or Windows device.

Share with anyone you choose

You can share files inside and outside your company. You always control access.

 

collaborate on files 2 - managed solution

Share internally and externally

You control access to files

In our networked world, file sharing isn’t restricted to inside the office. But inside or out, you control who sees and edits each file. And you can create, edit, and review with others to avoid back-and-forth hassles and save time in the process.

Work together on the same file

No more emailing documents around and losing track of the latest version. Easily add, respond to, and track comments and status updates on one version of the document.

The power of social networking

Social networking enhances collaboration and sparks innovation. Get updates on documents and sites delivered automatically.

 

collaborate on files 3 - managed solution

Keep your projects coordinated

Help teams stay in sync

Keep everyone up to date and working together as a team. Office 365 gives you many different ways to help ensure that everyone can find exactly the files they need fast and that all team members are moving forward together.

Build a team library

Keep project emails and shared documents together in one place with a project-specific mailbox only team members can access, so no time is wasted searching for what you need.

Create a team site

You control access to your team site. And with automatic policies, rights protection, and archiving, you can safeguard your team assets.

Stop syncing a library with the OneDrive for Business app

Stop syncing a library with the OneDrive for Business app

If you’ve synced OneDrive for Business or a SharePoint site library to folders on your computer, you can stop syncing these folders at any time. When you stop syncing a folder, you disconnect the folder on your computer from the library on the server. You can always sync the library to your computer again.

Why stop syncing a library?

Usually, you stop syncing when you no longer need to sync updates between the folder and the library on the server, or because you’ve completed a project. If something goes wrong with the connection between the folder and the library on the server, you can often fix the problem by stopping the current sync relationship, and start syncing the library again, as if for the first time.
Note:  If you’re having sync problems, you can also run Repair. Repair disconnects and reconnects all libraries you’re currently syncing.
You can also pause syncing a folder. This allows you to temporarily stop syncing a folder without disconnecting it from the library on the server. You might pause syncing if you don’t want to use your system resources for syncing at the present time. You can resume syncing at any time.

Syncing a OneDrive for Business library is a function of Windows and the OneDrive for Business app, and is specific to your computer. You can only pause and stop syncing from your local computer, not from the online app.
Once you've stopped syncing a set of files, you can delete them from either your local computer, or from OneDrive for Business. If you delete a file from OneDrive for Business online, and then sync again, that file will be deleted from your local computer.
You can stop syncing a library, but not individual files or folders under that library.
Learn more about syncing libraries on OneDrive for Business here.

 

See how Microsoft and Managed Solution can improve your business here!

5 simple steps to boost your digital hygiene in 2017

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5-steps-to-digital-hygiene-managed-solution5 simple steps to boost your digital hygiene in 2017

January is a good time to stop making excuses and get your digital life in order. Here are five inexpensive, money-saving, aggravation-reducing ways to maintain tech, and protect yourself and the environment in the New Year.

By Bill Snyder as written on cio.com
I'm not big on New Year's resolutions. Let's face it, no one keeps them.
Instead of resolutions, here are five simple ways to help you save money, avoid digital disasters, and get your personal technology into top-flight condition. None of the tips are complicated, and I've used them all during the past few years so I know they work.

Audit digital subscriptions

These days, many digital services have auto-renew subscriptions. It's wise to regularly check your credit card statements to see what you're billed for. You may find a charge for a streaming-video service, magazine or newspaper you forgot about but still pay for. You don't have to get all compulsive about it, but you might even put reminders on your calendar to cancel services before trial periods expire or keep a list of all of your paid subscriptions. If nothing else, the list will come in handy at tax time if you itemize deductions.

Buy (and use) a can of compressed air

This one sounds goofy, I know, but the vents on your laptop and the spaces between keys on your keyboard collect what technical experts call "schmutz." Clogged vents can cause overheating, and that can kill your laptop. Junk inside a keyboard can cause keys to jam. A 3.5 ounce can of compressed air costs $4.99 at Best Buy, and Amazon charges $7.34 for a 12-ounce option. Both are a lot cheaper than the new laptop you'd need if you fry your system's motherboard.

Find a password manager to love

Hacking is an epidemic today, but most folks simply aren't going to make and keep track of different passwords for every site. No one can track dozens of passwords without writing them down somewhere, and that, of course, defeats the purpose. But a good password manager can be a lifesaver.
I use LastPass, and its free version now let's you share your passwords across multiple devices. LastPass finally supports Microsoft's Edge browser, as well as Chrome and Firefox. The service generates complex passwords for each site you visit and stores them in what it calls your "vault." You only need to remember one master password. A couple more password mangers that get good reviews are LogMeOnce and 1Password.

Backup, backup and backup again

You've heard it over and over again, but many users are left without their data, music and photos when a drive fails or malware corrupts their systems. Backing up can be a pain, but so can locking your door and keeping your money in a bank. If your digital stuff is important to you, you need to back it up to the cloud or buy a roomy external drive — or both.
Microsoft OneDrive gives you 5GB for free and 50GB for $1.99 a month. Upload speeds are generally slow, so the first time you backup to the cloud will likely take a while. Another option is to buy an external drive. A 2TB drive (or 2,000GB) now costs well under $100, and most of them come with software to automate the backup process.

Recycle old electronic junk

By now, most Americans recycle newspapers, bottles and cans, but many old electronic devices still wind up in a landfill. That's a real problem, because they contain heavy metals and other pollutants than can get into the water table. Instead, take them to an electronics recycler. Most cities have them. To find yours, simply Google "electronics recycling" in your community and you'll quite likely find more than one. If you ditch an old smartphone or over-the-hill PC, make sure you wipe the hard drives and get rid of any personal data.

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Automatic albums, improved search, Pokémon and more updates to the OneDrive photos experience

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Automatic albums, improved search, Pokémon and more updates to the OneDrive photos experience

By Dougals Pearce as written on blogs.office.com

Photos are one of the most popular and most important file types that our users save to OneDrive. We’ve been working on improving the OneDrive photos experience across the web and in our mobile apps.
Here’s a look at new features we are rolling out:

Automatic albums

You upload photos to OneDrive so you can easily find and relive memories—whether from another device or by sharing them with friends and family. With automatic albums, this experience is now even easier.

OneDrive detects whenever you take a few photos in a short period of time, in a particular location. The highest quality photos are then selected and put into an album. You are even notified when they’re ready to view and share on OneDrive.com, in our mobile apps or via the Windows 10 Photos app. In addition, to celebrate all of the fun stuff you do over the weekend, on Monday morning albums from your weekend photos are automatically created.

On this day…

On OneDrive.com, you’ll also see the new “On this day” view in your All photos page. We love discovering photos we’ve taken in the past, and this view updates every day with images you have taken over the years on that same day. It’s a great way to relive birthdays or anniversaries or to remember old family vacations.

Improved search

You can now search directly from the All photos view too. This includes finding photos that have been tagged (such as “cat” or “sunset”) or photos from a specific location (try your last vacation). You can even search using emojis. These searches also work in the OneDrive mobile apps.

Photo folders

We listened to your feedback and now have a dedicated view for your folders that have a lot of photos in them. The new photos view includes a hero image, larger thumbnails and a revised menu to help you quickly create an album or share photos.

OneDrive photos experience 4

Updated app experience

In addition to giving the photos view in our mobile apps a little bit of a facelift, we worked closely with the Windows team to improve the experience in the Windows 10 Photos app. Now, when you sign in to Windows 10 with your Microsoft account, all of your OneDrive photos show up—including albums that were created for you automatically by OneDrive! You can even upload local albums to OneDrive so that those albums roam with you and are available across all your devices.

Automatic albums improved search Pokémon and more updates to the OneDrive photos experience image 5

Poké detector

And finally, we know that the Pokémon* craze has captured everyone’s attention. A lot of players take screenshots of their captured Pokémon to show off to their friends—both digitally and in person. We had to make it easier for you to find all your Pokémon screenshots, so we went to work and partnered with Microsoft Research to bring a Pokémon detector to OneDrive.

When you have the OneDrive app on your phone and camera upload is turned on, the screenshots you take from the game are automatically saved to OneDrive and 150 Pokémon are identified for your searching and viewing pleasure. You can also search for your favorite Pokémon by name.

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#WorldPhotoDay with OneDrive

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WORLD PHOTO DAY

Sharing photos easily with OneDrive

Three easy steps to share your favorite snapshots

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Article and images by Kelly Cronin
Photographers around the world, both professional and amateur, are sharing some of their favorite pictures in honor of #WorldPhotoDay.  This can sometimes be a tedious task, with image attachment restrictions on emails, formatting difficulties, and accessibility settings.  With Office 365, photo sharing is simplified.

OneDrive

OneDrive has some powerful features to help you find what you need, co-author documents, and keep your files and photos organized.

  • OneDrive is pre-installed on Windows 10, enabling your documents and photos to be saved to OneDrive automatically.
  • Photos saved in OneDrive are automatically tagged based on visuals and OneDrive albums help you keep them organized and searchable.
  • PDF annotation on your iOS device allows you to highlight, draw, and sign any PDF file in your OneDrive.
  • Real-time notifications let you know when a document is being edited and by whom.

Using OneDrive to share photos is as easy as 1, 2, 3...

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1) SNAP

Taking a good photograph isn't always easy.  The first step to sharing great photos is capturing the perfect moment with your camera.  Sometimes what you see behind the lens is even better than what you see in real life.  Once you've snapped your photo and made any edits you needed, you're ready for step two.

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2) UPLOAD

After a long day of shooting pictures, the best part is opening up your computer and seeing how they all turned out.  Upload your photos directly to your OneDrive.  With multiple upload capabilities and easy folder creation, you can quickly sort and view all of your pictures in one location.

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3) SYNC & SHARE

 Choose which photos are worth sharing by individually sharing, or create a new folder with your favorite shots and share that folder with the lucky viewers.  Pick and choose who gets to see your photos - and where, with controlled accessibility.  If you want to send messages or post your pics on Instagram, you can sync your OneDrive folder to your phone via the OneDrive app, eliminating the need for emailing yourself individual pictures.

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Skype now integrated with OneDrive

Skype now integrated with OneDrive

By Omar Shahine as written on blog.onedrive.com
The Skype team has been hard at work recently delivering new features to make sharing and collaborating across apps easier than ever. We’ve been working with them to bring Skype to OneDrive, and you can now log in to Skype directly at OneDrive.com. This will make it easier for you to stay connected by sending an instant message or having a video call while sharing a new photo album that you just created or while working together on a document. Your chat history will even stay connected to your document, so you always have what you need to stay productive. Learn more about all of the recent updates from the Skype Blog and head over to your OneDrive to check it out for yourself.

Skype-group-chat