Microsoft begins rolling out OneDrive offline mode on the web

OneDrive’s new offline mode will allow users on the web side of the service to open files that have been marked as available offline and navigate to favorite files and the OneDrive home section without an Internet connection. You can also rename, sort, move and copy files, and they will all sync as soon as you have an Internet connection again.

Offline mode also features performance improvements, even if you have an Internet connection. Microsoft claims loading is up to 3x faster when viewing or interacting with files in OneDrive on the web or in the OneDrive app in Teams or Outlook. “Offline mode uses your device’s local storage to store certain file information such as file name, size, author, last access date, etc,” explains Andrey Esipov, principal product manager at Microsoft. “This is possible through the OneDrive Sync app, which locally stores a cache of your files’ metadata.”

OneDrive’s offline mode on the web won’t be available to consumers yet, but those using a Microsoft 365 business or school account can set up the new feature right now. You’ll need the latest OneDrive sync app for Windows or macOS; Then just go to OneDrive on the web in Chrome or Edge and this will “trigger a one-time automatic offline mode setup.”

This new offline mode also complements the existing Files On-Demand feature that is available in OneDrive through File Explorer or the Finder on your Mac. You can now control the Files On-Demand feature in your browser to select files that will always be available on your computer.