Microsoft has announced it has added “smart files” to SkyDrive in Windows 8.1, which allows users to search and preview all their SkyDrive files without storing the full files. By doing this, most users can use around 80% less disk space.
A smart file contains all the metadata of the full file and, if it is an image, a thumbnail generated on one of Microsoft’s servers. If an image containing text is uploaded to SkyDrive through a device’s camera roll, the text will be automatically read using Bing OCR and added to the file’s metadata.
These files and thumbnails can be browsed while offline, though opening them for editing requires the full file to be downloaded. There are options to choose which files and folders are fully available offline. Learn more on the Inside SkyDrive blog here.
