14 DAY TRIAL // Today, Microsoft announced a series of updates for its SkyDrive cloud-based service, all set to make it an even better place to store photos and share them with close ones.
Said enhancements, expected to roll out this week, include support for more file types than before, complemented by a set of new editing features, as well as additional sharing capabilities.
Following the update, the web service will provide users with support for higher-resolution screens, including high DPI panels such as the ClearType Full HD and Retina displays.
SkyDrive.com will be measuring the DPI scale of users’ devices, and higher-resolution photos and thumbnails will be displayed when supported. However, Microsoft does note in a blog post that not all web browsers provide support for high DPI just yet.
Another enhancement added to the service as part of said update is the support for animated GIF (pronounced “jif”) images, so that users could save and share such content on SkyDrive.
SkyDrive.com also comes with a series of new sorting and management capabilities now, including the ability to rotate photos, so as to see them in all of their glory. In addition to the Rotate button, the service got a filter control, so that people can see only specific photos, such as those in a single album.
Another enhancement brought to the service is related to the sharing controls that users can take advantage of, including the ability to share individual groups of files from anywhere on SkyDrive.
“You can share two photos from your camera roll, or a hundred. You can share a file in one folder along with another file from a different folder. And you can share different things with different people,” Omar Shahine, group program manager, SkyDrive.com, explains in the aforementioned blog post.
There is also a brand new Shared View included in the update, which should enable users to keep better track of the items they have shared, while also enabling them to un-share something easier than before.
“The new Shared view shows you all the stuff you’ve shared, and what’s been shared with you. Your own stuff is at the top of the list, sorted by what you’ve most recently shared. This is followed by a list of people who’ve shared something with you, sorted by who shared things most recently,” Shahine notes.
The option to share Office documents has been improved as well, providing any recipient with the possibility to edit a shared document, even if they did not sign in, as long as the “Recipients can edit” box has been checked.
On top of all these new features, SkyDrive also comes with the possibility to edit many different kinds of text files in the browser now, with simpler tools available for that, in addition to the included support for Word.
“SkyDrive now has native support for viewing and editing many different kinds of text files. This includes JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and many code files. It includes support for syntax highlighting, find, and word completion suggestions,” Shahine explains.
“You can also share these files with your friends, and they can edit them. And you can “diff” changes, so you can see conflicts between edits. This is a convenient feature for developers; however, for a complete end-to-end development solution, you can still get that with Microsoft Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server.”
SkyDrive also enables users to view registry keys and cmd files straight in the browser now, Omar Shahine concluded.
