OneDrive On-Demand

OneDrive On-Demand
There was a recent announcement of some new features coming for OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online that I am very excited to see.  The new feature is called OneDrive On-Demand.

The OneDrive On-Demand capability allows you to access files without having to download them and use storage locally on your device.  Effectively, File Explorer has connectivity to data in the OneDrive for Business cloud just like it has with data on network attached storage.  When you select a file, that file will be synced locally and then opened in the app.

Additionally, there are reasons why some folders and files you will always want to ensure are available locally.  With this new capability, you have the ability to designate which files and folders you want to have as always available locally.

Benefits
A major benefit is not having to use local device storage.  This becomes important because storage available on a per user basis with OneDrive for Business in cloud can be more than what is available on the device itself.  So, if a user has 1TB of data of OneDrive Storage in the cloud, and they

Another benefit is more efficiency in data synchronization to a corporate network.  When lots of user sync a SharePoint Online site, all the files are synced to that device.  Additionally, when a file is updated, that update is pushed to all devices.  Now files are only synced at the user’s designation if the file must be available locally all the time.  This will reduce the amount of data being pushed.

Other Notes
OneDrive On-Demand is available as part of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.
This feature will work with OneDrive for Business, OneDrive (personal) and SharePoint Online.

What about Mobile?
Mobile Apps for OneDrive have always been on-demand.  A new solution is being introduced into the iOS and Android Apps which allow users to designate folders as “offline”.  This allows you to access those files while you have no internet connectivity.  Now we have some feature parity across devices.

References
https://blogs.office.com/2017/05/11/introducing-onedrive-files-on-demand-and-additional-features-making-it-easier-to-access-and-share-files/
https://blogs.office.com/2017/05/16/new-sharepoint-and-onedrive-capabilities-accelerate-your-digital-transformation/