Microsoft shares details on the refreshed OneDrive design

Last month, Microsoft announced the refreshed OneDrive web UI that will offer cleaner look and improved performance to millions of users around the world. With the new UI, users can quickly see what files and folders are new, what content has been shared with others, who has accessed the content and who has not with click of a single button via their new People Card and more. When we reported about this new UI last month, we saw lot of users complaining about it. Microsoft yesterday posted a detailed look at their new design explaining many things. I’ve highlighted few of them below.

1) Folder and File icon update:

OneDrive team has made it easier to scan across file names and notice essential information quicker. They have made thumbnails larger and more detailed. Read their reason below.

Because OneDrive and SharePoint are alive, active and ever-changing. New files come in, others change, some get shared out. We heard from you that these changes needed to be more apparent, and we combined that knowledge with research about how the human eye parses items. The human eye is attuned to recognize familiar shapes and colors instantly. To take advantage of this, we modified the look of the files and folders in the list and tile views so it’s easier to find what you’re looking for.

In addition to the folder icon, they have redesigned file icons to be modern and lightweight. They have generated over 4200 variations and sizes of icons to make your files look great on any device. They are bringing these files experience across Android, iOS, Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and the web interfaces in OneDrive and SharePoint to make it familiar for users.

2) Compact Mode:

Based on the feedback from power users, they are introducing new compact list view which is “high density list view” resembling Windows File Explorer. Also now both the regular and compact list design allows users you adjust column widths suit their needs.

3) New Item and Popular file Indicator:

The New Item Indicator allows users to quickly catch up with the latest contributions. And the Popular files indicator helps users find the popular files in their organizations.

You can read the full post from Microsoft here.