OneDrive news from Ignite

I’ve been catching up on the sessions from Ignite and one of the sessions I have been most keen to see is:

A File’s Future with OneDrive for Business – BRK2192

Why? OneDrive for Business sync client is currently, probably unfortunately, the weakest component of Office 365. I see a lot of frustration out there with clients when they hit the limits of this application. These can be overcome and minimized with some tuning but the sync software currently doesn’t really support they way many customers believe they should work with the cloud. Most want (inappropriately in my opinion) to sync everything from the cloud to every desktop. Like it or not, that is how they expect to work and at the moment the OneDrive for Business sync client struggles to support this.

As you can see from the above slide the OneDrive for Business team recognise that the sync client basically hasn’t met client expectations and fixing this is currently their highest priority.

(click image to enlarge)

The good news as shown on the roadmap above is that we can expect to see a next gen sync client in Q3 2015 with the final release before the end of the 2015 year.

(click image to enlarge)

The other exciting news is that before the end of the year the currently maximum limit of 20,000 file being synced will be removed, the maximum file size that can be synced will increase to 10GB and selective syncing of files from within a Document Library will be available.

There are a few other sessions on OneDrive at Ignite that I’ll be working through and reporting back what I find so stay tuned. However, I think the news is very positive now for OneDrive for Business in general. Yes, many of the changes coming have been a long time in materialising but the good news is that they will be with us shortly.

The news from Ignite has been very positive and the improvements Microsoft are being to Office 365, Azure and like are truly amazing. I’ll report on more of these as I work through all the content. Kudos also to Microsoft for making the content from Ignite readily available so quickly to review on demand. I certainly wish I could have attended in person but in some ways having access to the on demand content makes it even easier to stay up to date.

To view the sessions from Ignite visit:

https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015

Office 365 data import service rolling out

Here’s an interesting item from the Office 365 Roadmap in development.

Drive Shipping and Network Based Data Import for Office 365

The ability to import data into Office 365 in a quick and easy manner has been a known constraint of Office 365, and a solution for this issue has emerged as a key request from customers. We are working on a solution that will allow quicker imports of data into Exchange Online Archive Mailboxes. You will now be able to import Exchange Online data through PST files into the service without using third party tools. Drive Shipping and Network Based Ingestion options will use Azure-based services to import data. Over time we will be extending this to other data types across Office 365.

This option is not yet available on my Office 365 tenant but here is a blog post of someone who has it and has documented the process:

http://blogs.perficient.com/microsoft/2015/05/office-365-using-the-new-pst-import-service/

What excites me is not the PST stuff but this line:

Over time we will be extending this to other data types across Office 365.

That to me reads that soon Office 365 will support drive shipping and network based ingestion of SharePoint and OneDrive for Business data! That will be huge and save massive amounts of time for customers looking to move the bulk of their files and folder information to Office 365, who may also be somewhat bandwidth limited.

The second thing I note here is:

Drive Shipping and Network Based Ingestion options will use Azure-based services to import data.

That further reinforces to my mind the fact that if you are an Office 365 IT professional you are going to need to be comfortable with Azure.

To me it is no longer Office 365, it is now Office365/Azure combined as a skill set you must have going forward.

Enable Dropbox Integration in Office 365

https://portal.office.com/Home

where you should see the above screen.

Select the Word Online icon.

Word Online will now launch and you should see the splash screen you see above prompting for Dropbox integration.

Select Add Dropbox account and enter yoru Dropbox account details if prompted.

Once you have entered your details you will see in the top a drop down menu with options for OneDrive for Business and Dropbox as shown above.

In the bottom left as well, you will see the above locations you can select to open a file from, OneDrive for Business and Dropbox.

If you select Open from Dropbox you will be able to navigate your Dropbox file locations and select a file.

The first time you select a Dropbox file you’ll be prompted to allow Microsoft Office Online to access Dropbox as shown above.

Select Allow to proceed.

You’ll now be able to edit that document in Word Online.

In the bottom of the window in the middle you will see that any updates you make are Saved to Dropbox automatically.

If you now go into your Dropbox at any time and select an Office document you can elect to open it with the appropriate Office Online application.

Pretty handy if you are using Dropbox in some capacity along with Office 365. I couldn’t see a way to open from say Dropbox and save to OneDrive for Business for example, hopefully we’ll that edition in the not to distant future.

Need to know podcast–Episode 81

We’ve covered off using OneDrive for Business as a collaboration solution, now Tas and I turn our attention to outlining how SharePoint Online Team Sites should be used within a business. We also discuss what strategies are successful when it comes to making SharePoint a winner within an organisation.

You can listen to the episode at:

http://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-81-tas-gray/

or subscribe to this and all episodes in iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ciaops-need-to-know-podcasts/id406891445?mt=2

The podcast is also available on Stitcher at:

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ciaops/need-to-know-podcast?refid=stpr

Don’t forget to give the show a rating as well as send me any feedback or suggestions you may have for the show. I’m also on the hunt for some co-presenters so if you are interested on being a regular part of the show please contact me.

Resources

Cloud Business Blueprint www.cloudbusinessblueprint.com

Skype for Business client roll out – https://blog.ciaops.com/2015/04/skype-for-business-client-goes-live-in.html

Attached Apps – https://blog.ciaops.com/2015/04/getting-started-with-attached-apps.html

Built in mdm for O365 – http://blogs.office.com/2015/03/30/announcing-general-availability-of-built-in-mobile-device-management-for-office-365/

AU data centers go live –http://blogs.msdn.com/b/auspartners/archive/2015/03/31/office-365-and-crm-online-services-land-on-australian-soil-today-what-you-need-to-know.aspx

Some changes to SharePoint Online

If you have been using Office Online with SharePoint Online via Office 365, you may now notice that the menu structure has changed as you can see above. The majority of options now appear on the right rather than the left.

You can see the old menu structure above with the menu options on the left.

When you actually go in and edit a document with the new interface the familiar Ribbon and menu structure return as shown above.

I find it interesting how menu items move from one side or the screen to the other (and perhaps they are testing to work out the best option??) but if you remember the changes from SharePoint 2007 to 2010 to 2013 you also saw that familiar left, right, left changing of navigation. Most interesting.

The other interesting change that is being reported on OneDrive fro Business only (at this stage), by fellow MVP Benoit Hamet over on his blog:

http://blog.hametbenoit.info/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=664

is that there is now an option to Move or copy a folder or file as shown above in a image from Benoit’s article.

I currently don’t see this option in any of my Office 365 tenants, but I’ll keep an eye out for it as it is a handy feature and makes using OneDrive for Business, at least, more like traditional Windows Explorer on the desktop. Interesting to see whether they bring the same functionality into SharePoint Online Team Sites? Time will tell on that score.

So watch out for these latest updates to SharePoint Online in you tenant soon.

Need to Know podcast–Episode 76

Tas joins me again to discuss a curly Office 365 and SharePoint Online question – where should you save your document? A SharePoint Team Site or in OneDrive for Business?

There are plenty of good reasons to store your data in each location but what makes the most sense when? Tas shares his experience and thoughts from the field and we come up with some guidelines that you can use to make the decision of where to locate your data easier.

You can listen to the episode at:

http://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-76-tas-gray/

or subscribe to this and all episodes in iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ciaops-need-to-know-podcasts/id406891445?mt=2

The podcast is also available on Stitcher at:

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ciaops/need-to-know-podcast?refid=stpr

Don’t forget to give the show a rating as well as send me any feedback or suggestions you may have for the show.

Resources

https://blog.onedrive.com/taking-the-next-step-in-sync-for-onedrive/

http://www.messageops.com/onedrive-vs-sharepoint-comparison-matrix/

Should I save my documents to OneDrive for Business or a team site

OneDrive for Business now available for MAC

Yes all you Office 365 and Mac fan boys and girls, Microsoft has just announced that SkyDrive for Business sync client for MAC is available on iOS! You can read all the good news here and how you can procure it:

http://blogs.office.com/2015/01/28/onedrive-business-comes-mac-ios-devices/

There is also an Office Mechanics video that shows you all the features.

Demonstrates how OneDrive for Business is really a great cross platform tool for sharing and syncing files.

Free SharePoint Online Email course

I am very happy to announce the availability of my new FREE 23 lesson Getting Started With SharePoint Online training email course that is based on my SharePoint template training publication.

To receive a lesson every day via email visit:

http://www.ciaops.com/templates

and scroll down the page. After all the template details, you will find the option to submit your email address to subscribe to the course.

Once you have submitted your email address you will be sent a confirmation email which you will need click on to confirm you wish to receive the course. Once you have done that you should receive the introductory email giving your details about the course.

From then on you’ll receive an email a day typically containing a video tutorial to watch (only around 7 – 10 minutes on average) as well a set of lesson notes you can download for reference.

By subscribing to this course you will also be subscribed to my upcoming monthly Office 365 and SharePoint newsletter where you’ll get load of information and news about these products.

The content in the email course is exactly the same that is contained in the Getting Started With SharePoint Online Team Site template. Hopefully, once you see the value via email you will purchase the template and install it on your Office 365 tenant so everyone in your business can use it.

The last incentive I have for you to sign up is that when you do you’ll receive a special discount code for a major discount when purchasing the Getting Started With SharePoint Online Team Site template.

Watch out for new SharePoint Online training courses coming soon!