OneDrive gets colorful folders in Windows 11 File Explorer and other features

Microsoft has announced new features for OneDrive, its cloud storage solution for consumers and business customers. The upcoming updates are designed to "help you work smarter, stay organized, and relive life's best moments."

The company says it supercharged OneDrive to improve its performance, especially when browsing large libraries, filtering documents, and performing other tasks. The built-in search now features more controls, and it can return more results from OneDrive, shared libraries, or files from other customers.

Windows users can now have colorful folders in OneDrive inside File Explorer for better file filtering and organization. This feature is now rolling out, and if you have colored folders in OneDrive for the web, you will soon notice the same folders in File Explorer. In addition, Microsoft upgraded the sharing experience, allowing users to see who is working on a specific document in real-time.

Microsoft also promises "significant improvements" to the document library experience with "OneDrive's flexibility and speed." These improvements will be available around mid-2025, and the exact details are yet to be revealed.

OneDrive for mobile devices is also getting some love from developers. Microsoft announced a redesigned app with improvements that "bring your favorite memories to life." With the updated version, OneDrive focuses on photos, offering quick and easy navigation between albums, people, and favorite photos. The built-in search now better understands natural language, allowing you to search with phrases like "Sophia and her dog on a boat."

The updated OneDrive app is now available for Android users, while iOS will get it next month.

Additional changes in OneDrive for iOS and Android include the ability to import photos from other services, such as Google Drive, Google Photos, and Dropbox, easier photo sharing with people who do not use OneDrive (you can send full-res images with no need to log in on the other end), improved memories, and more.

Another big part of the announcement was Copilot for OneDrive. It is now available to commercial users, and it lets you summarize files, compare several files at once, get answers to questions about specific files, and more.

Microsoft promises to give OneDrive users more capabilities in the future. They include the updated photo experience with "AI-powered photo management" on all platforms, not just mobile, Microsoft Design integration, personalized file views, and more. You can find more details about the latest OneDrive improvements in a post on the official Tech Community forums.