The company has increased the maximum size limit for file uploads

Sep 11, 2014 05:56 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has recently confirmed that it is working to increase the maximum file upload size limit for OneDrive, but the company hasn’t provided too many details, making people wonder whether or not Redmond’s cloud-based storage service could get no size limit for file uploads.

Well, it appears that this isn’t the case, as today Microsoft has announced that OneDrive has been updated to support uploads with a maximum size of 10 GB using the desktop apps for Windows and Mac, all mobile clients, and the OneDrive website.

“We recognized that people not only have more files than they did before, but they have bigger files as well. This is a top feature request we’ve received and we’re excited to deliver it!” the company said in a statement.

At this point, the new feature is being rolled out to users worldwide, so it could take a while until the upload limit is increased for you too.

OneDrive vs. Dropbox and Google Drive

OneDrive is the latest major cloud-based file sharing that increases the maximum file size upload limit, as Dropbox and Google Drive were already allowing uploads of bigger items.

Until now, OneDrive only permitted uploads of files with a maximum of 2GB in size, but starting today, this limit has been increased to 10 GB.

That’s the exact same limit for Dropbox users, while Google Drive is allowing business customers to upload a maximum of 5TB. Of course, cases when you have to upload files that are bigger than 5TB are very rare, but it’s still good to know that this option is there.

OneDrive offers a total of 15 GB of free storage for all customers, after previously bringing 7 GB in every account. Microsoft decided to boost free storage capacity for all users a few months ago, while also offering the option to add some extra gigabytes by configuring OneDrive to automatically upload camera roll photos.

Other improvements for OneDrive

In addition to the new file upload size limit, Microsoft is also making syncing faster in OneDrive, with the company claiming that everyone should notice this improvement in the coming weeks.

“In internal tests, this parallel syncing netted an approximately threefold increase in syncing speed. Our performance enhancements have begun rolling out and will be available worldwide in the coming weeks,” the company said.

Another really important feature that’s now available in OneDrive is the possibility of sharing files straight from Windows Explorer. Starting now, users can go to the OneDrive folder on their computer, right-click a file and choose the “Share a OneDrive link” option to quickly copy to clipboard a link that can be shared with everyone.

This feature is now being rolled out worldwide, but is only available to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users.

Last but not least, folder uploads are also possible now via OneDrive.com, with an option in the upload section enabling customers to upload large directories directly, without the need to select files one at a time.