Lately when you share a zip file through Onedrive for Business it leads to a webpage that looks like the picture below. It allows to download individual files and it allows to download all files at once as a zip file. Before this new method was available you would get a direct download link to download a zip file. (Much preferred)
Ever since this change went live, I receive huge amounts of complaints from people that can't download the zip file, or some files inside it will be broken when they do so. There are several problems with this new method:
- People can't figure out how to download everything at once. The Download button at the very top left does not give a clear indication that this button allows to download everything at once. First, the button is too far from away from the rest of the content, so it doesn't feel related. (This is a problem in the whole UI, also in outlook, etc.) Second, the word 'download' doesn't indicate that you download a zip file. As a result, people contact me not knowing they are able to download a zip file.
- It doesn't work in several (old) browsers, including Internet Explorer. This is a huge problem since many companies use it.
- Assuming all the problems above could be avoided by explaining people to use firefox or chrome, and to look for the download button at the very top left, it still would be broken in the core. Because:
- When I include .ifc files (3D models) in the zip file, people can't download them, they become broken/corrupted. From what I've heard you get an Error text file. I assume there are other file types that give similar errors.
In conclusion I can only say this whole new zip sharing method is horrible for me. I wanted to introduce it to the rest of my colleagues so we could stop using wetransfer.com, but the whole experience is just a nightmare. I ended op not using OneDrive sharing anymore. I reverted back to wetransfer. Please fix as soon as possible.
I already know about the ?download=1 workaround to get a direct download link. But this is too complicated for my colleagues. So this is not an option.
