Looking for another reason to shake a fist at Microsoft? How do you feel about a new batch of unwanted prompts in Microsoft 365?
Search no more! This very reason is about to materialize in Word, PowerPoint and Excel as Microsoft starts to pester users to back up their files to OneDrive. By May, but perhaps as early as this month, you could find that you’re hit with ads badgering you to add files to Microsoft’s cloud storage service.
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The move is unlikely to win Microsoft any new fans, the company having already raised hackles with endless forms of advertising and self-promotion in Windows. The latest instance of pushing its own service is part of Microsoft’s attempt to adopt OneDrive Known Folder Move (KFM).
As with previous in-app ads, these prompts appear in yellow bars above documents in Microsoft 365 apps.
In a message posted to the Microsoft 365 Message Center, Microsoft explains:
If your organization still has users who are not enrolled in KFM, the message (“BACK UP THIS DOCUMENT: Share and work with others in this and other files using OneDrive”) will encourage them to do it while using familiar desktop apps. After users select the Open OneDrive button, they can select the folders they want to back up in OneDrive.
Admins have the option of blocking KFM, and this will prevent the message from being displayed. But for users for whom it has not been blocked, Microsoft’s pushy ads could prove not only irritating, but also confusing.
Image credit: Waingro / Dreamstime.com
