Microsoft updates OneDrive to support 10GB files

Last week I wrote that some OneDrive users were noticing that the previous 2GB file limitation was gone. This week, Microsoft has made that move official, and revealed that the new limit is now 10GB.

That follows the news a few months ago that Microsoft upped the capacity of its free OneDrive accounts to 15GB, and the Office 365 OneDrive storage to a full 1TB. 15GB doesn’t sound like much when you can upload a 10GB file. That means you can only upload one-and-a-half files before your space is maxed out. Of course, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 10GB file, and I don’t expect that to be considered “normal” any time soon.

Microsoft stated that business users will have to wait a while for the new 10GB limit.

In addition to the increased file size, Microsoft also shared some other news:

Faster syncing

As part of our push to continue improving the OneDrive desktop experience, we’ve increased the number of files that can be downloaded or uploaded at a given time on PCs and Macs. 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.

Easier sharing straight from Windows Explorer

We are thrilled to deliver another top feature request that gives people who use Windows 7 and 8 the ability to quickly get links to content in their OneDrive folder without needing to go to the web. By simply right-clicking the item or items you’d like to share, you’ll see a “Share a OneDrive link” option that will create a sharing link and add it to your Clipboard. From there, you can paste it directly into an email, IM, or other message. This feature has begun rolling out to OneDrive on Windows 7 and 8 and will be available worldwide within a few weeks. We’ll update you as this becomes available on Windows 8.1 and Mac.

Folder uploads via OneDrive.com

While today’s announcements mostly feature improvements to the desktop experience, there’s one more popular feature request we received for the OneDrive website. We’re pleased to announce that today we’re releasing the ability for you to drag folders directly into OneDrive.com from browsers where folder dragging/dropping is supported (specifically Google Chrome).

This is all great news for OneDrive customers, but it doesn’t address some complaints I have heard from readers. Some have expressed frustration that OneDrive seems to have a 20,000 file max regardless of the file size, or how much space you have available in the cloud storage service, and others have complained that OneDrive is too finicky about lengthy file names–file names that seem to work just fine for competing services like Dropbox. I have asked Microsoft for comment about these supposed limitations of OneDrive, and I am awaiting an official response.

What do you think of these changes to OneDrive? Share your thoughts in the comments below.