Features out the wazoo but still somewhat clunky
December 11, 2018
Features out the wazoo but still somewhat clunky
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with OneDrive
Our entire organization uses OneDrive. It functions as a continuous backup of the files on my laptop, allows my team (and the entire company) to share files and collaboratively work on documents, spreadsheets, images, slide decks, etc. The ability to collaborate—and especially for multiple people to collaborate on the same document at the same time—is quite useful.
- I especially appreciate OneDrive as a way for us to store documents in the cloud. I make sure that all mission-critical work is included in a OneDrive-synced folder, and therefore don't have to worry if my computer crashes or hard drive fails.
- Collaboration. The ability for multiple people to work on a document at the same time is key.
- Integration with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. Being able to open a doc in the native desktop apps, then save it and know that it's updated automatically in OneDrive is great.
- Integration with Mac OS X. Being able to share docs right from the Finder is excellent.
- Occasionally the backup functionality fails for certain files. This is rare (and you can see exactly what is synced and what is not) but I am still unclear as to why certain files resist syncing.
- The browser-based apps for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint not only lack the full-featured functionality of the native desktop apps, but it's clear they weren't designed for browsers. My biggest point of comparison is Google Docs, Sheets & Slides. While Google's apps may not be as powerful, they were designed for a browser from the ground up, they run more smoothly and my team would prefer to collaborate in Google than in OneDrive.
- It's just a little clunky and could be more user-friendly. Specifically, sharing settings can be confusing or frustrating and require multiple steps to approve when someone requests access to a doc.
- It's more of a pain to invite external people to contribute to a doc as they have to sign up for a Microsoft account in order to access the docs.
- I can't speak to business metrics, but I can say that it is very helpful to have every single person in my company using the same system.
As mentioned earlier, OneDrive is certainly a good solution for large enterprises. But when I work with other organizations or for my own personal, outside-of-work use, I prefer Google Drive, simply because it's a platform that nearly everyone is already using to some degree: more user-friendly, and with a better browser-based experience.