In this day and age, work doesn’t always take place in an office space. Information workers are expected to stay connected to their files on the go, whether they are traveling to a client’s location, meeting a customer at a café or working remotely.
Alongside Office Mobile apps and Microsoft Teams, our 4.6+ rated OneDrive mobile apps on iOS and Android empower you to stay connected to all files throughout Microsoft 365 as well as capture and collaborate from anywhere and on any device. You can create and edit documents, scan receipts and business cards, markup and annotate PDFs, co-author Office documents and share content with your peers across departments and with external clients and vendors outside your organization – directly from your Android and iOS devices.
It has been little over a year since we rolled Office Fluent Design to OneDrive for the web. This change aligned OneDrive with the entire Office 365 suite on a common color palette, typography, icon systems and header. As we continued to roll out the Fluent Design system and the revamped Office brand icons, we also updated the file folder representation, unveiling golden folders across web and mobile. A few months ago, we rolled out a similar design refresh to the OneDrive for iOS.
Today, we are carrying forward this design overhaul to OneDrive for Android and we’re excited to share the refreshed look and feel.
OneDrive for Android design refresh
Intricacy and finesse are the core designing principles of Microsoft OneDrive complementing our ability to craft simple and powerful experiences. With a focus on familiarity and ease-of-use, OneDrive’s fluent design delivers subtle and coherent enhancements to render a superior experience for you that aligns to the rest of the Office suite.
The files list and grid views have seen unique polishes. With sleek updates to the iconography, we have added borders highlighting the icons augmenting depth to focus on what matters. We have also revised the font size and spacing, to provide an increased legibility, accessibility and the ease of swiftly discovering what you are looking for.
Also, for a better photo taking experience the scan button has now been updated from a lens logo to a camera icon, bringing you a collective modern experience.
Dark mode for Android
Yes, Android users- Welcome to the dark side!
You asked, we listened!
Dark Mode on OneDrive for Android was the highest rated feature and top request on UserVoice.
We are delighted to announce today, the global rollout of Dark Mode on OneDrive for Android across business and personal accounts.
Apart from the aesthetic appeal, widely known perks of Dark Mode are that it reduces eye strain and improves battery life of the device aiding you with uninterrupted productivity while on the go.
Themes like Dark Mode exemplify our commitment to inclusive design principles and the dedication to adapt to the diverse needs of millions of our users by giving them choice and flexibility.
Revamped search experience
OneDrive enables you to connect to all your files – be it your individual work files or team files in your shared libraries. Like the web search experience, Microsoft Search in the OneDrive mobile app, uses powerful intelligence to help you promptly find files that matter the most to you.
We have improved the usability of the search option in OneDrive for Android. With a simple toggle, you can now natively discover your files across OneDrive and your shared libraries in SharePoint. This makes the search experience simple and convenient facilitating access to ALL your files (individual and team) from a single interface.
PDFs and scans included in “Recent View”
OneDrive makes it easy to get to your recent files easily across web, mobile, and Office. Now, we’re bringing the common “Recent files” experience to OneDrive on Android, aligning with the Web and iOS experiences.
Now, in your “Recent list”, uploaded scans and recently viewed PDFs will automatically surface at the top.
Updated experience for PDF annotation
Accomplishing tasks on your phone is easy and fast with OneDrive including annotating a PDF file to highlight items or add notes. The updated PDF editing experience for OneDrive on Android is designed around quick actions that lead to a truly mobile first markup experience.
Pens, highlighters, and the eraser can now be found at the bottom of the screen, making markup more intuitive and touch friendly. Notes are now more lightweight and reactive, making them easier to create and view. We’ve also made it simpler to customize and select note color by bringing the color picker into the note surface.
We’ve also made visual improvements to the signature feature by increasing the signing surface area, smoothing out the pen handwriting, and made it more intuitive to store signatures for future use.
Blast from the past with “On this day” feature
Ready to get a little more joy out of your day? We have a special present for you, from the past.
The extremely popular “On this day” feature, is now available on Android for OneDrive personal users.
Rediscover your favorite memories with this new functionality in the Photos tab. “On this day” surfaces your photos taken on that specific day in the past years.
So, take a stroll down memory lane and relive some treasured moments.
Learn more and stay engaged
Install OneDrive for Android to take advantage of these new functionalities. Do make sure that you are on version 6.0.
Also, iOS users, feel free to download the OneDrive app here.
Explore the benefits of using the OneDrive mobile app here.
We continue to evolve OneDrive as a place to access, share, and collaborate on all your files in Office 365, keeping them protected and readily accessible on all your devices, anywhere.
You can stay up-to-date on all things via the OneDrive Blog and take advantage of end-user training resources on our Office support center.
Thank you again for your support of OneDrive. We look forward to your continued feedback on UserVoice and hope to connect with you at Ignite or another upcoming Microsoft or community-led event.
Thanks for your time reading all about OneDrive,
Ankita Kirti – OneDrive | Microsoft