Microsoft OneDrive Brings Basic Photo Editing Tools to Its Web, Android Apps to Rival Google Photos

Microsoft OneDrive will now let users edit photos using basic editing tools on its Web and Android apps. Users will now be able to crop, rotate, and flip photos, make light and colour adjustments, cast media using Chromecast, and organise photos in an improved manner along with searching for images using filters. The new update brings the photo storing experience on Microsoft OneDrive closer to that on Google Photos. Notably, users can only edit JPEG or PNG images as of now.

Announcing the update on its Tech Community blog, Microsoft said the it was "just the start of a number of new enhancements that OneDrive is bringing to photos over the next year". The tech giant has made the feature available for OneDrive for Web and Android as of now. OneDrive for iOS is expected to receive the feature later this year.

Microsoft OneDrive will bring basic photo editing features on its Android app
Photo Credit: Microsoft

OneDrive will allow users to crop images to any size including 'standard image size for social media' with its built-in presets. Additionally, the cloud storage platform will also let users rotate and flip their images at their discretion. OneDrive has also added the option for incremental degree rotation that will help users straighten images.

Furthermore, Microsoft has also added basic light and colour adjustment settings to the OneDrive photo editor menu. Users can now adjust the brightness, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, and colour saturation. Once users have made all the adjustments, they can tap and hold the image to compare their edited version with the original version of the image. Users will have the option to save the edits as a new image or overwrite the original image. If the image is accidentally overwritten, the original can be recovered through the version history menu.

Microsoft has currently made its new editing tool available only for OneDrive Personal accounts. Users with Work or School accounts will be able to experience the feature later this year.

OneDrive Users can now also cast images and videos stored on their OneDrive from their Android device to their TVs with Chromecast. Users would have to connect their Android device to their Chromecast-enabled device and use the Cast option on the top right corner of the OneDrive app and subsequently select their device from the list to activate casting.

OneDrive for Android will now make it easier for users to search and organise their images and videos. Folders of images can now be created based on the upload source. For example, photos saved from camera roll and WhatsApp will now be automatically segregated into their respective folders. Microsoft says the feature will be visible to users within the next couple of months.

Lastly, OneDrive will give users the option to view images either from specific folders or from all folders in the drive. Users will find the option on the top-right corner of the Photos tab on the Android app and the Photos area in OneDrive for Web.