Windows 8.1 Update: SkyDrive Users To Get Offline Access Support And Placeholder Files

SkyDrive in Windows 8.1 offers exciting new features.

The Next Web reported that today, Microsoft shared new details about the enhancements and features arriving to SkyDrive, as part of the Windows 8.1 update. Accordingly, the new Skydrive in Windows 8.1 update will include placeholder files, file picker integration and offline access.

During the first week of Build 2013 event hosted by Microsoft, Windows 8.1 update was released, making a preview version of the operation system available to download. During this time, Microsoft also shared some of the improvements made to Skydrive in Windows 8.1, but the company is now providing more details about the cloud application. For instance, one remarkable note shared by the Windows maker was that users were uploading over 3 terabytes of files to SkyDrive every day.

Microsoft cited trends in the industry to explain why they are pursuing the cloud-storage service for its users. According to the post, "while devices have increasingly larger storage capacities (growing at about 25 percent per year), people's data and files are growing significantly faster (around 50 percent per year)."

One of the valuable things to experience in SkyDrive in Windows 8.1 update is the ability to access files even if the user is offline. The SkyDrive app allows users to mark files or folder which they would need to access even if they are out of the information superhighway. Just select the 'Make Offline' button so the edits you made will be synchronized, ensuring that you are always working with the latest file.

Moreover, another impressive improvement provided to SkyDrive in Windows 8.1 is the placeholder files, which is "Microsoft's attempt to provide users access to all their SkyDrive files without actually downloading them, in an effort to minimize local disk space and Internet bandwidth (especially on mobile devices)."

The placeholder files look and feel like normal files and folders as you can easily tap or click on them, see all the folders and the files inside it, open edit, move, delete, copy or rename them.  The difference is that SkyDrive in Windows 8.1 will only download the full file if you access it as the placeholder files only contain a thumbnail image together with some basic properties and file contents. This also saves space, because for instance, a Pictures folder in SkyDrive with a total of 5.6 GB in size can only take up 185MB on the local disk.

Interested Windows platform users can update their devices by installing Windows 8.1 Preview version for