Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

OneDrive

The OneDrive (originally called SkyDrive) is one of Microsoft’s great unsung offerings. It’s a free, 15-gigabyte online hard drive on the Internet, accessible from any computer—and part of your free Microsoft account (Local Accounts vs. Microsoft Accounts).

How is it handy? Let us count the ways:

• It’s a trustworthy “disk” for backing up important files.

• It’s a central online location for files you want to access from any machine that can get online—not just Windows machines, but Macs, iPhones, and Android phones. (There are OneDrive apps available for all of these.)

• It’s a perfect pit stop for files you want to shuttle from one computer to another.

• It’s an intermediary for sharing big files with other people far away.

• It’s integrated into the latest versions of Microsoft Office (for Mac and Windows). That is, you can save a document directly onto your OneDrive from Word, Excel, or PowerPoint—or open a OneDrive document directly from within those programs.

• It’s also integrated into Microsoft’s email services like Hotmail and Outlook.com. For example, if someone sends you a Microsoft Office attachment, you can open and edit it right online and save it to your OneDrive.

• It’s a handy way to offload files from a computer that has limited storage space. You still see them listed on your machine—but they don’t actually download until you ask for them.

• In Windows 8.1, the OneDrive is built right in. Any time you save a file, you can opt to store it either on your machine or online, on your ...