OneDrive for Business Overview

OneDrive for Business technology enables file access, sharing, and sync with diverse clients and servers, but capabilities vary by platform. Summarized here are the most important OneDrive for Business clients (left), servers (right), and their capabilities.

The most common OneDrive for Business client is the browser, which enables users to access files, including upload, download, and search, from most client platforms. Browser users can also share files with other users. The browser works against document libraries in Office 365 Microsoft-hosted services (such as SharePoint Online), or in customer- and partner-hosted SharePoint Server installations. It can work with user document libraries, which are called OneDrive for Business libraries (and are labeled “OneDrive” in the Web user interface), or with other document libraries such as the document libraries offered by Team Sites and Office 365 Group collaboration spaces. The Office Online Web applications (also called Office Web Apps), not shown, enable browser users to access and edit Office documents in document libraries, including multiuser editing (coauthoring).