SkyDrive (officially Microsoft SkyDrive, formerly Windows Live SkyDrive) is a file hosting service that allows users to upload and sync files to a cloud storage and then access them from a Web browser or their local device. It is part of the Windows Live range of online services and allows users to keep the files private, share them with contacts, or make the files public. Publicly shared files do not require a Windows Live ID to access.

The service offers 7 GB of free storage for new users. Additional storage is available for purchase.^[1] Users who signed up to SkyDrive prior to April 22, 2012 can opt-in for a limited time offer of 25 GB of free storage upgrade. The service is built using HTML5 technologies,^[2] and files up to 300 MB can be uploaded via drag and drop into the web browser,^[3] or up to 2 GB via the SkyDrive desktop application for Windows and Mac OS X^[4].

History[link]

On its launch, SkyDrive, known as Windows Live Folders at the time (with a codename of SkyDrive), was provided as a limited beta available to a few testers in the United States.^[5] On August 1, 2007, the service was expanded to a wider audience. Shortly after, on August 9, 2007 the service was renamed Windows Live SkyDrive and made available to testers in the United Kingdom and India.^[6] As of 22 May 2008 (2008 -05-22)^[update] SkyDrive was available to 62 countries and regions.^[7][8] On December 2, 2008, the capacity of an individual SkyDrive account was upgraded from 5 GB to 25 GB, and Microsoft added a separate entry point called Windows Live Photos which allowed users to access their photos and videos stored on SkyDrive. This entry point allowed users to add "People tags" to their photos, download photos into Windows Live Photo Gallery or as a ZIP file, as well as viewing EXIF metadata such as camera information for the photos uploaded. Microsoft also added full-screen slide show support for photos using Silverlight.

SkyDrive was updated to "Wave 4" release on June 7, 2010, and added support for Office Web Apps, offering versioning support. In this update, due to the discontinuation of Windows Live Toolbar, the ability to synchronise and share bookmarked Web links between users via SkyDrive has also been discontinued. However, users are still able to use Windows Live Mesh to synchronise their favorites between computers, although the "cloud" storage component of the bookmarked Web links is no longer available. This feature replaces the previous Windows Live Favorites service.

In June 2010, users of Office Live Workspace, released in October 2007^[9], were migrated to Windows Live Office. The migration included all existing workspaces, documents, and sharing permissions.^[10] The merger of the two services is a result of Microsoft's decision to merge its Office Live team into Windows Live back in January 2009^[11], as well as several deficiencies with Office Live Workspace, which lacked high fidelity document viewing and did not allow files to be edited from within the web browser.^[12] Office Live Workspace also did not offer offline collaboration and co-authoring functionality – instead documents were "checked out" and "checked in," though the service did integrate with SharedView for real-time screen sharing.

On June 20, 2011, Microsoft overhauled the user interface for SkyDrive, built using HTML5 technologies. Microsoft also doubled the file size limit from 50MB to 100MB per file, as well as adding new features such as caching and hardware acceleration, support for HTML5 videos, Quick views, cleaner arrangement of photos, infinite scrolling. This update also brings together the different entry points for SkyDrive, such as Windows Live Photos and Windows Live Office, into one single interface. Files and folders shared with a user, including those in Windows Live Groups are also accessible in the new interface.^[2] On November 29, 2011, Microsoft updated SkyDrive to make sharing and file management easier, as well as HTML5 and other updates. This update also allowed users to see how much storage they had (and how much they had used), a feature that had been removed in the previous update as part of the redesign.^[13]

On December 3, 2011, Microsoft released a SkyDrive for iOS app, and a SkyDrive for Windows Phone app, which are available in the App Store and Windows Phone Marketplace respectively. On April 22, 2012, Microsoft released a SkyDrive desktop app for Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Mac OS X users which allows them to synchronize files on SkyDrive, much like Windows Live Mesh, as well as allowing users to "fetch" files on their computer via the web browser. In addition, SkyDrive also provided additional storage available for purchase, and reduced the free storage space for new users to 7 GB (from 25 GB). Existing users were offered a free upgrade offer to retain their 25 GB of free storage. The updated SkyDrive also supports files up to 2 GB in size (uploaded via the SkyDrive desktop app).^[4] The update also brought additional features such as Open Document Format (ODF) support, URL shortening services, and direct sharing of files to Twitter.

Features[link]

Office Web Apps[link]

Microsoft added Office Web Apps support to SkyDrive in its "Wave 4" update allowing users to upload, create, edit, and share Microsoft Office documents directly within a Web browser. Users can create, view and edit Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote documents within the Web browser. In addition, Office Web Apps on SkyDrive also allow multiple users to simultaneously co-author Excel directly within the web browser, and co-author OneNote documents with another web user or the desktop application. Users can also view version history of Office documents stored on SkyDrive.^[14]

[edit] Integration with desktop version of Microsoft Office

Users of recent versions of Microsoft Office (for Windows or Macintosh) can use the desktop applications to edit the same section of documents stored on SkyDrive simultaneously. Changes are synchronized when users save the document, and where conflicts occur, a user is given the selection to choose which version to keep. ^[15] This is a collaborative real-time editing suite as multiple users can use combinations of desktop applications and the web apps to edit a document.

PDF and Open Document Format support[link]

SkyDrive supports viewing of Portable Document Format (PDF)^[16] as well as Open Document Format (ODF), an XML-based file format supported in a number of word processing apps including Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, and Corel's WordPerfect.^[17]

Documents embedding[link]

SkyDrive allows users to embed their Office documents (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) onto other web pages. These embedded documents allow anyone who visits these web pages to interact with them, such as browsing an embedded PowerPoint slideshow, or perform calculations within an embedded Excel spreadsheet.

Hotmail integration[link]

SkyDrive integrates with Hotmail which allow users to:

• Directly upload Office documents and photos within Hotmail, store them on SkyDrive, and share them with other users^[18]
• Directly save Office documents within Hotmail to SkyDrive, and view or edit these documents directly within the web browser^[19]
• Allow Hotmail users to edit Office documents within the web browser using Office Web Apps, and reply directly back to the sender with the edits made^[19]

Share to social networks[link]

SkyDrive integrates with social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to enable users to quickly share their files to contacts on these social networks.^[20] SkyDrive maintains an access control list of all users granted permission to view or edit the files, including those users on social networks.^[21]

Bing integration[link]

SkyDrive integrates with Bing's Save & Share feature, allowing users to save search histories into a SkyDrive folder.

Windows Live Groups integration[link]

Each group within Windows Live Groups are provided with 5 GB of storage spaces on SkyDrive to be shared between the group members. Group members are allowed to access, create, modify and delete files within the group's SkyDrive folders, as well as other functionalities that SkyDrive provides.

Location and people tagging[link]

SkyDrive supports geo-location data for photos uploaded onto the service, and will automatically display a map of the tagged location. SkyDrive also allow users to tag people on the photos uploaded onto the service via the web interface or via Windows Live Photo Gallery.

Photo slideshows[link]

Photos uploaded onto SkyDrive can be played as an automatic slideshow.

Download as .zip file[link]

Entire folders can be downloaded as a single .zip file with SkyDrive.

Paid storage plans[link]

From April 22, 2012 onwards, in addition to 7 GB of free storage (or 25 GB for users eligible for the free upgrade), power users who require more storage can choose one of the three price plans:^[22]

Depending on the markets, users may need to have a supported credit card or PayPal account to pay.^[22] The paid storage plan will be renewed automatically each year unless Microsoft or the user cancel the service. When the user cancel the service before the term ends, the service will remain active until the end of the term. ^[23]

Client applications[link]

Microsoft has released SkyDrive apps for the following platforms:

• iOS^[24]
• Windows Phone ^[25]
• Windows 8 Metro-style app

These client apps allow users to browse, view and organize files stored on their SkyDrive cloud storage. Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system also directly integrates with SkyDrive via the Office hub to enable users to view and edit Office documents stored on their SkyDrive.

In addition, Microsoft also released SkyDrive desktop applications for the following platforms:

• Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8
• OS X Lion

These desktop clients allow users to synchronize their entire SkyDrive storage to their computers for offline access and synchronization of files and folders between multiple computers. The SkyDrive for Windows desktop client also allow users to "fetch" their contents of their PCs via the web browser, provided the user enabled this option; Mac users can fetch from a PC, but not vice versa.

There are unofficial third-party SkyDrive apps for Android, including Android SkyDrive Explorer, Browser for SkyDrive, Cloud Explorer for SkyDrive, ES File Explorer, FolderSync, SkyDrive Client, and Portfolio for SkyDrive, which use the SkyDrive API to access files and folders.^[26]

Developer APIs[link]

Microsoft has released a set of APIs for SkyDrive via Live Connect to enable developers to develop web services and client apps utilizing SkyDrive's cloud storage.^[27] This allow users of these web services and client apps to browse, view, upload or edit files stored on SkyDrive. Currently a software development kit (SDK) is available for web developers and developers of Windows 8 Metro-style apps, Windows Phone, iOS and Android.^[28]

See also[link]

• Comparison of file hosting services
• Google Drive
• Dropbox
• SugarSync
• iCloud

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
  • Overview of SkyDrive
  • SkyDrive Help center
• SkyDrive apps