Microsoft's SkyDrive gets new photo, text editing features

Microsoft is adding support for more file types and new editing and sharing features to its SkyDrive cloud storage service.

Company officials detailed the new additions in a July 30 post to the "Inside SkyDrive blog."

Microsoft is adding support for higher DPI displays like ClearType Full HD and Retina, to photos stored on SkyDrive.com. SkyDrive.com can measure the DPI scale of users' devices and, when their screens support it, show higher resolution photos and thumbnails. (Note: This is dependent on whether or not users' browsers support high DPI). SkyDrive.com also now displays animated GIFS "in all their glory," according to today's blog post.

SkyDrive.com also now enables photo rotation from inside the service via a Rotate button.

On the sharing front, Microsoft is expanding users' options with SkyDrive, too. Instead of having to choose to save an entire folder and all its contents or only share individual photos one at a time, users can now opt to share individual groups of files or photos from anywhere inside SkyDrive. This means users can share a single photo from a camera roll or a hundred, or they can share a file or photo in one folder along with another from a different folder.

SkyDrive.com also is getting a new Shared view. This shows users all the photos and files they've shared and had shared with them. Each user's own shared files/photos are at the top, followed by a list of what's been shared and by whom, organized chronologically (with the most recent first).

Following on the ability to share links to Office documents, allowing people to edit without having to sign in, SkyDrive also is now allowing users the same privelege when they share any SkyDrive file via email. By checking "Recipients can edit," users can allow any recipient to edit the shared files without having to sign into SkyDrive first.

In a move aimed at developers and power users -- and NotePad lovers like me -- Microsoft also is adding support for viewing and editing different kinds of text files in the browser. Up until now, SkyDrive.com has allowed users to edit text files using the free Word Web App, but as of today, SkyDrive also has native support for viewing and editing simpler text files, too, including JavaScript, CSS, HTML and "many code files." This includes support for syntax highlighting, find and word-completion suggestions. These files can be shared and edited by recipients.

For more on the new built-in text editor in SkyDrive, check out this Channel 9 video.