OWA’s New Attachment Feature

In an effort to continue its commitment to seamless collaboration across the Office 365 platform, Microsoft has announced a new feature for sharing files into the Outlook Web App (OWA).

Attach OneDrive Files

Within Outlook’s online version, users can now attach OneDrive links just as easily as they would a normal file. Right from the attachment tab, you are able to select a separate option to attach OneDrive files. And because permissions for viewing and editing are assigned through a users email, selecting this option will automatically add your contact to your shared list for the file.

Once attached, permissions can be managed with a simple right-click.

Upload from Your Email

Now, lets say you just finished typing up a document within a desktop application and you would like to submit for group edits. When choosing to share a file via OneDrive in the Outlook Web App, you will also be able to able to select the option to upload the document into your cloud storage as well!

This process will eliminate sifting through various versions being passed back and forth from colleagues, as well as interpreting suggestions sent back to you. It’s one document in the cloud that can be co-authored by numerous users. And with built-in version history logging, you’ll be able to keep track of who made what changes in an organized manner.

One Stop Shop for Collaboration

Combined with other recent updates to OWA and the rest of Office 365, mass collaboration between coworkers can now be accomplished entirely within a single webpage. Several months ago, Microsoft announced that it was adding an editing feature within OWA, where users could view attached documents and make changes right from their email.

Cross application integration will also make this OneDrive sharing available on mobile platforms as well; iPhone, iPad and Android users will now have the opportunity to share and edit on the go easier than ever.

While this feature has been rolled out for some users already, it should be made available for everyone’s use in early November. While not available just yet, Microsoft plans to add this feature in to updated versions of the Office desktop applications.

For more information about this change, take a look at Microsoft’s blog post about the update. Or if you’re interested in OWA and other Microsoft email services, visit our Exchange Online solution page to see what cloud email can do for you!