OneDrive is the online document storage solution created by Microsoft which comes bundled with Windows 10. It can be used to store your documents and other data online in the cloud. It also offers synchronization of stored data across all your devices. Earlier, OneDrive had a feature called "placeholders", which was useful because it showed placeholder versions of online files in your local OneDrive directory even if they were not synchronized and unavailable. However, this feature was removed from OneDrive with Windows 10 RTM. Now, Microsoft has announced that placeholders will return as "On-Demand Sync".
Many users found this feature very useful because it told them which files were there in their OneDrive account without using the OneDrive app or opening OneDrive via a web browser.
With the placeholders feature, even if your files and folders were stored in the cloud only, it showed a placeholder in File Explorer instead. When the user accessed the "online" file or folder, it got downloaded first and was then available offline.
Microsoft removed OneDrive placeholders because they claimed that they confused users. According to Microsoft, it wasn't easy for some users to understand which files and folders were accessible when the Internet was unavailable.
On the first day of Microsoft's Ignite 2016 conference, the Redmond giant announced the return of this feature which was heavily requested by many users. OneDrive placeholders will return as a synchronization option in the Metro app. The feature is now called On-Demand Sync.
Microsoft did not specify the exact date when On-Demand Sync will be available but they announced that it will be in the Redstone 2 timeframe. Redstone 2 is the next major feature update to Windows 10.
Source: via.
What do you think of this announcement? Do you use OneDrive despite the lack of placeholders or have you moved on to another service which has this feature already?
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Here is a screenshot I found of it: https://sharegatewordpress.blob.core.windows.net/sg-wp/app/uploads/2016/10/11-ondemandsync-od1.png