Microsoft OneDrive on the web is adding an offline mode, but not for everyone

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Microsoft has announced that it is adding an offline mode to OneDrive on the web. The feature is only available for work and school users.

The Redmond company began updating OneDrive in October with new features, enhancements with a new UI design. The new offline mode is part of those plans, to allow users to access their files in web browsers, even while they do not have an internet connection.

How does OneDrive's offline mode work

Andrey Esipov, Principal Product Manager on the OneDrive and Microsoft Lists products, says that OneDrive's offline mode requires the OneDrive sync app on Windows and Mac. The new feature uses your computer's local storage to store some metadata (file name, size, author, date last accessed, etc.). The local cache aids in improving the load-times for OneDrive on the web, to allow files to open faster, as opposed to fetching them from the web.

Login to OneDrive on the web in Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome, and the OneDrive Sync app will automatically perform a one-time set-up of offline mode. It is unclear whether other browsers such as Mozilla Firefox are supported at the moment.



Once this has been completed, you will be able to access your OneDrive's "My Files" view to browse, organize, move, copy and rename the files, even when you do not have a network connection. You can also access OneDrive’s “Home,” “My files,” “Shared,” “Favorites,” “People,” and, “Meeting” views, Folders, Metadata, etc. Changes that you make to your files when you are offline will be synced back to the cloud automatically once you connect to the internet.
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