OneDrive gets business support and cross-platform UI facelift

Published by at

Microsoft's OneDrive for Windows Phone has been updated with an Android-like UI that follows the existing update to the Android version of the application. More importantly, perhaps, OneDrive now supports 'OneDrive for Business' accounts, so this bolsters Microsoft's enterprise mobile ambitions.

From the Store description, we have a changelog for the new v4.4:

  • Improved design
  • OneDrive for Business support
  • Sign in with both your personal OneDrive and your OneDrive for Business accounts
  • Organize and open your OneDrive for Business files
  • Save new files to your OneDrive for Business account
  • Easily send your OneDrive for Business files
  • Bug fixes and performance improvements

While you can only have a single OneDrive consumer account associated with the OneDrive application, you can now use multiple 'OneDrive for Business' accounts. You can switch between any configured accounts just as in the Android app, using the new pane that pops up from the left. Unlike on Android, where you can swipe the pane in, here it's triggered by a tap on the menu icon, top left in the UI:

Screenshot, OneDriveScreenshot, OneDrive

The pop-up/side-out menu pane, which would be populated with more accounts if 'OneDrive for Business' was configured too; (right) starting to add credentials for a business account.

Screenshot, OneDriveScreenshot, OneDrive

The three main panorama panes (the two above, plus 'Shared') remain as they were, but now with a more tabbed/Android-like look rather than the old 'Metro' styling.

Confusingly, the two main panorama panes are the same as the two main extra options in the pop-up menu pane. But we'll cut Microsoft some slack here, it's trying to make a single application look the same on multiple operating systems.

You can update OneDrive (it's baked into Windows Phone 8.1) in the Store client, as usual, on the phone. It's a good complement to the new Files utility for the platform, which handles local files.

Source / Credit: Windows Phone Store