Add OneDrive online storage to your Mac, increase drive space

Microsoft has great software for the Apple Mac and in some ways, OneDrive is more useful online storage than Apple iCloud. If you aren't using it, you are missing out on top features.

Although Apple provides iCloud storage for your files with macOS and iOS, and the service has been opened up a lot since it launched, it is still not as flexible as Microsoft OneDrive. Sharing features have improved, but if you use Microsoft Office on your Mac, or even if you don't, there are still advantages to OneDrive. Anyone that uses a Mac and a PC for example, will find that OneDrive is so much better for working and syncing files between them.

Microsoft OneDrive enables you to create a folder on the disk which is then mirrored in online storage space at onedrive.com. Save a file to the OneDrive folder and it is automatically synced with OneDrive online. Any app on any computer, phone or tablet with OneDrive installed can access any file.

Files can also be accessed using a web browser at the onedrive.com website, which means other operating systems such as Windows, Linux, iOS and Android phones and tablets can all access the same files. Can you access iCloud files from an Android phone? In Linux? No, but you can access OneDrive files. Not everyone wants to do this, but some people do. There are other useful features like this.

With a new OneDrive account you get the same 5 GB free online storage that you get with iCloud. However, over the years there have been many offers where you could earn extra space and by taking advantage of them, I have 50 GB OneDrive storage for free. A Microsoft 365 subscription gives you 1 TB of storage space in addition to the useful Office apps.

Install OneDrive on your Mac

Before you start with OneDrive you need a Microsoft ID. Microsoft services use the same login, so you can go to any of them. For example, visit onedrive.com using a web browser and sign up if you don't already have one. This will set up your online storage and make it available through a web browser. Then you can install OneDrive one your Mac to mirror the online storage on the local drive.

Go to the Mac App Store and search for OneDrive. Click the button to install it and afterwards, click the OneDrve app in the Applications folder. Click the Get Started button. It's been a while since I installed it, but the process hasn't changed much.

The first thing you need to do is to sign in to your Microsoft account. Use the same username and password you used at the onedrive.live.com website.

OneDrive stores files on the local drive, which provides offline access to the files in the online storage. The app needs to be running to keep online and offline files in sync, so you might want to tick the Open at login option during setup or in Preferences afterwards. This automatically starts OneDrive each time you start the Mac.

Showing a Dock icon isn't important because OneDrive is just a folder on the disk drive and it is accessed using Finder, through Open/Save in apps and so on. You don't need a Dock icon, so hide it if given the option. It's in Preferences afterwards.

The next step is to choose the folder on the disk drive to mirror the files and folders stored online in OneDrive. This should be a subfolder of your personal home folder and the obvious name for it is OneDrive. Create the folder if necessary.

When installation is complete, a OneDrive icon appears in the menu bar and clicking it shows files recently synced.

If you already have a OneDrive account, such as for work or on a PC, and it has gigabyets of files, it will time some time and effort on the part of your Mac to sync everything to a new install of OneDrive. You might want to leave it running overnight in this case.

If you are just starting with OneDrive there is nothing to sync and it can be used straight away.

Use OneDrive Files On-Demand

Click the OneDrive icon in the menu bar, click Help & Settings and then Preferences. On the Preferences tab, turn on Files On-Demand. This is a brilliant way to save disk space on your Mac. All files are visible in Finder, but they are only downloaded to the Mac if you actually need them, such as when opening a photo or document. See the cloud icon to the right of the first three folders below? That means they are online and take up no space on the Mac's disk. However, I can still open the folders and open files.

Even better, is that you can Ctrl+click any file or folder and choose whether to Always Keep on This Device or to Free Up Space. If you choose Free Up Space, the files and folders still appear in Finder and you can move them, delete them, and rename them. If you try to open a file in an app or if you double click it to open it in the default app, there is a slight delay as it is downloaded to the Mac's disk.

You can have gigabytes of files in OneDrive, yet only a few megabytes of disk space are used on the Mac. This is one way to free up space on your Mac's disk if it is becoming full.

Choose what to sync

OneDrive can be installed on as many Apple Macs and Windows computers as you want and you might not need to sync every file and folder on every computer. There could be files and folders that you only want to share on your Windows PCs, or your Macs, or you might have a limited amount of storage space on your Mac, such as with a MacBook, and don't want to sync everything. You can upgrade OneDrive and purchase 1 TB of online storage space, which is more than the capacity of some Mac disks.

OneDrive automatically syncs the local drive with the online drive. If you are a new user with few or no files, it can be used immediately. Just use the OneDrive folder like any other folder on the disk drive, but bear in mind the storage limit, so don't put gigabytes of video footage in it unless you have a paid subscription with 1 TB of space. It is just for files you want to back up online or sync with other Macs and Windows PCs you use.

Click the OneDrive icon in the menu bar, click Help & Settings and then Preferences. In the Preferences window, click Account in the toolbar and then click the Choose Folders button.

Do you need to sync everything to your Mac? If so, select Make all files available, otherwise use the checkboxes to select only those folders on OneDrive that you want to appear on your Mac in the OneDrive folder. This feature gives you control over your files and you can see or hide files on the Mac. Folders not synced are still in OneDrive online.

You can select Make all files available if you enable Files On-Demand, because they will not take up any disk space on the Mac.

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• The brilliant free online office suite that no-one talks about
• Lightweight alternatives to Apple Pages, Numbers and Keynote