Microsoft continues improving support for Apple Silicon

Lots of new sync features are on the way

Microsoft has announced yet another project designed to improve the experience of using its services on M1 Macs, this time an ARM-native version of OneDrive sync that is now available for public preview.

OneDrive gets M-native

As promised last month, the new version is in development and available only to users who join Microsoft’s ‘Insiders’ scheme which provides them with access to beta software. The ARM-native version of OneDrive sync will also work with Windows devices running on ARM chips.

“We’re  excited to announce that OneDrive sync for Windows on ARM and for Apple silicon is now available as a public preview!” Microsoft said. “We know this has been a long awaited and highly requested feature, and we’re thrilled to make it available for early access.”

What this should mean is that when you are working in OneDrive on an M-series Mac you should experience faster sync between all your devices.

To  enable the preview, you’ll need to make sure that you’ve joined the Insiders ring and enabled the preview in OneDrive Settings > About.

• For instructions on installing the native ARM client see Choose between the 64-bit and 32-bit version of OneDrive. 
•  To look up the version of your OneDrive see Which version of OneDrive am I using?

The feature isn’t yet available to all insiders, but is being rolled out over the next few days – so if you can’t install it on your Mac yet, give it a couple of days and try again.

OneDrive option on M-series Apple Silicon Macs

Microsoft hints ‘M’ is for Mac – but not yet for Windows

In other recent news, Microsoft has introduced Teams integration in CarPlay, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for Apple Silicon, and made improvements to its presentation, email and remote desktop tools.

One thing Microsoft has told us absolutely nothing about, however, concerns its plans for Windows on ARM.

At present, Mac users can run the Windows for ARM preview using Parallels, but they cannot rely on this forever.

Microsoft has not announced any plans at all to make Windows available as a fully licensed software installation for M1 Macs, which means that if Windows support is important to you you must either invest in a Windows machine, or stick with Intel-based Macs running the OS in Boot Camp or VM.

This doesn’t seem to be a particularly ideal situation, and seems a shame, given that if fully supported Windows would probably run much faster on a Mac than it does on PCs.

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