OneDrive Update Adds Copilot AI Tech
Microsoft has announced new enterprise capabilities in its OneDrive cloud storage service, many of which leverage the company's Copilot AI capabilities.
For instance, users will be able to deploy Copilot "Agents" in their OneDrive environments, Microsoft said in a blog post last week. Copilot Agents are AI assistants designed to perform specific tasks autonomously. Users can build agents in Copilot Studio, ground them in organizational data and deploy them across their Microsoft environments. The agents are fully managed and orchestrated by Copilot.
Microsoft announced Copilot Agents last month as part of its Copilot "Wave 2" update. OneDrive's support for this capability means organizations can build AI assistants trained on specific files stored in OneDrive. End users can then interact with these assistants using natural language, receiving answers based on the data from OneDrive files.
"With Copilot Agents, you can gather relevant files, documents, and data into a powerful, shareable assistant that knows everything about your project," per Microsoft's blog. "Need to onboard a new team member? Instead of sending them multiple links, e-mails, and files, you can simply share your Copilot Agent in a Teams chat. With one click, your teammate can start interacting with the agent, asking questions, and getting real-time answers."
Besides the ability to deploy Copilot Agents, commercial OneDrive users are also getting access to other AI-powered capabilities.
New capabilities enabled by Copilot in OneDrive include the ability to see summaries of OneDrive files without having to open them. Users can also leverage this summarizing capability to create shareable FAQs of particular files.
Copilot can also show users the differences between up to five OneDrive files, even if those files are in different formats (e.g., PDFs, Word docs and PowerPoint slides).
Additionally, Copilot can field natural language questions from users about specific OneDrive files, so they can quickly assess the files' relevance to their current task without having to open them.
Microsoft said it is working on more Copilot in OneDrive capabilities for 2025, including meeting recaps and the ability to turn OneDrive files into PowerPoint presentations.
Other OneDrive Enhancements
Microsoft described a few other OneDrive additions for business users. Both online and offline browsing are now faster, for instance, and Windows File Explorer now supports color-coded folders to make searching easier.
Users also have greater visibility into who is currently working on a specific file, along with more control over how long a share link remains active.
Other features are still forthcoming or in the preview stage. For instance, new integration between OneDrive Sync Health Reports and Microsoft Graph Data Connect is currently in public preview. This feature will let admins "export data into Power Bl or Excel for customized reports."
A new ability to generate site policy comparison reports using AI is expected to reach public preview by the end of 2024. This feature is meant to help admins quickly maintain compliance by determining which sites need policy enforcement tweaks.
Also expected to reach public preview by year's end is a new Restricted Content Discoverability feature that will let admins block specific files from appearing in Copilot responses.
A new archiving capability will arrive as a limited preview in early 2025. This feature will let users "archive individual files within [their] SharePoint Document Libraries that haven't been accessed in years, making it easier to declutter and manage storage."
Finally, Microsoft is set to make improvements to OneDrive's document libraries by mid-2025. "We're improving the overall performance and reliability, making it easier and faster to navigate, switch to and create custom views, and filter large data sets," the company said.