What you need to know
- The new OneDrive Files On-Demand experience is rolling out to macOS users, so long as they're on macOS 12.1 or above.
- Microsoft says the new experience was needed as the old one's technical foundations have been deprecated.
- The new experience is set to receive Apple's long-term support.
The new OneDrive Files On-Demand experience is rolling out to macOS users. As long as you're on macOS 12.1 or above, you're good to go. The exception to that rule is Insiders, who can get away with being on macOS 12.0 (though Microsoft urges them to upgrade as well).
On the flipside, macOS 12.2 will be the last OS version to play ball with the previous Files On-Demand experience. Past that version, here's what the consequences will be, according to Microsoft:
- Files On-Demand will default to on for all users and cannot be disabled.
- Devices will migrate automatically to the new Files On-Demand as soon as they receive a macOS update. You cannot delay this update without also delaying an update to macOS.
- Both our Standalone and App Store versions of OneDrive will have the same behavior.
- Users running a developer or beta version of macOS will have the same experience as a release version of macOS.
The new experience will require an APFS volume. HFS+ volumes are out of luck. The reason behind this experience refresh is that the technological building blocks comprising the old one are deprecated, meaning in order for Files On-Demand to receive long-term support from Apple, an overhaul was in order. Microsoft says the new experience means users can expect support "for years to come."
For those who want a full rundown of everything going on with the new experience, it's worth checking out Microsoft's full blog post. A few of the highlights include package syncing support is now in the cards as well as that various APFS features are receiving enhanced support.
