Using OneDrive Photo Storage Tips & Tricks

Microsoft OneDrive is an excellent cloud storage and backup solution from the techno-giant. It offers cross-platform availability, flexibility and data security. Once your photos are synced to the cloud, they can be instantly made available across multiple devices by simply signing into your OneDrive account on those devices.

Delete OneDrive Duplicate Files

Cloud Duplicate Finder is totally safe. It uses the official OneDrive API 

You get to decide which photos to keep online-only and which ones to make available on your device for offline access and editing. Large files sharing, real-time collaboration features, version history are some of the standout benefits OneDrive offers. In this tutorial, let’s dig in some of its less-known photo storage tips and tricks.

Sync Photos Offline

If you’re using Microsoft OneDrive to store your photos online, you should consider syncing copies of your photos offline. Syncing your photos offline will make them available even without an Internet connection. Any changes you make to your photos (such as change in brightness, rotation, vertical flipping, etc.) will be instantly synchronized as soon as your current device is connected to the Internet.

1. Click on the OneDrive icon in the system tray area of the taskbar.
2. Sign in to your OneDrive account.
3. Once you’re signed in successfully, a OneDrive folder will be visible on the left-panel of the File Explorer window. You’ll be able to view and access all files in your OneDrive account in that folder.

View Largest OneDrive Photos

High-resolution photos in your OneDrive account may be taking up more storage. Get a list of all the large photos and files in your OneDrive account, and then determine any large photos and files you don’t need. You can delete some of the unneeded photos and files from the same page.

1. Sign in to your OneDrive account in a web browser.
2. On the bottom left, you’ll see text that describes the space you’ve used up as well as your OneDrive account’s total storage space. For example: 600 GB used of 1 TB. Click that text.
3. A right-side panel will expand. Click on Options under OneDrive Settings.
4. In the new page, click on Manage Storage.
5. Click on What’s taking up space? This link is placed beneath the Storage Summary bar.
6. In the new page, OneDrive will display the largest files from your OneDrive account, followed by the smaller files. You can see the file thumbnail icon, last modified date, and other information.
7. You can also switch to list, compact list or titles by clicking on the Thumbnail icon on the top-right corner (before the Info icon).
8. Delete any large photos and files you don’t need.

Use Version History

OneDrive maintains multiple versions of your documents, photos and other files. These older versions can be helpful if any photos or other files are changed in an inappropriate manner. You can quickly load the Version History dialog by right-clicking your photo or other file and selecting Version History. In the new dialog, you can view the past versions of your file and restore the most appropriate version. OneDrive maintains up to 25 versions of each file, all without impacting your storage quota.

Share Your OneDrive Photos Straight from the Desktop

OneDrive provides seamless, real-time collaboration to share your photos and files. Just open File Explorer and right-click on a file and select the Share option with the OneDrive icon. A new dialog will come with different sharing options. Type in the name or email address of the person you want to share the photo with, and then click on the Send option. Similarly, you can use the Copy link icon to send a custom link for your file.

Find & Delete Duplicate Photos

Duplicate photos can eat up a considerable amount of storage. As you link a OneDrive account with multiple devices or sync, share or upload new files, it results in unintended duplication. Using a duplicate removal tool, it’s easy to eliminate OneDrive duplicate photos.

OneDrive Duplicate Photo Finder

Cloud Duplicate Finder is a web-based duplicate finder tool. It can be accessed straight from your browser, regardless of the operating system and device you use. Using CDF, you can dedupe multiple cloud storage platforms including OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Box Cloud etc. In addition to regular duplicates, you can find visually-similar photos for major cloud platforms except Dropbox. CDF uses various similarity levels to choose from.

1. Visit the Cloud Duplicate Finder website.
2. Create a new account and verify your email.
3. Click on the OneDrive icon on the top header.
4. Click the Add New Drive button and enter the login details for the OneDrive account you want to scan. When you’re prompted to verify the permissions required, click on Yes or OK.
5. Click on the large Similar Photos Finder button.
6. Click on the Go to App button in the prompt that comes up.
7. Top-level folders in your OneDrive account will be displayed on the left-hand side folders list. Select the folders that have to be scanned for dupes, and keep others unchecked.
8. Click the Scan button to start the scan.
9. Patiently wait while the scan is in progress. Once the scan has concluded, total duplicate files count information will show up in addition to the duplicate files list.
10. Review the results carefully, and mark the photos you want to delete/ move. You can also use the Select Duplicates button if you want to automate this process.
11. Finally, click on Select Action and choose if you want to delete the duplicates or move them to a folder.

Benefits:

• No software needs to be installed on your machine
• Cloud duplicate scan process is performed over-the-cloud without you requiring to download any files
• Supports official APIs from different cloud service providers for highest level of privacy and data security
• You can log-off your session and revoke access to your data anytime
• Bandwidth-friendly