File viewer in Microsoft 365 gets new capabilities

Microsoft is rolling out new performance, collaboration and interactivity enhancements to the file viewer in Microsoft 365. File viewer lets you conveniently view your files, and work with them directly, be it a PDF, a video, a CAD drawing, or a Photoshop file.

With the latest update, your files will now load up to twice as fast compared to the previous version of file viewer.

Next up, you can access Copilot right in file viewer to get file summaries, answer questions about file content, and extract information. Copilot in file viewer is expected to be available in May 2024.

You can now see a list of people who have access to a file by tapping the people images and also add a file to your favorites list by tapping the star icon.

Further, using the new "Open in app" option, you can quickly open files in their native applications. When you’re done working with that file in its native app, you can save it and the changes will sync back to OneDrive.

The update also adds the option to remove pages from PDFs and merge multiple PDFs into one. This feature requires SharePoint Premium (formerly known as Microsoft Syntex).

Furthermore, you can mark up and draw on several file types such as .ai, .dwg, .epub, .pdf, .rtf, and .tiff. Once done you can hide or display the annotations by selecting the annotations icon.

Lastly, you can securely request electronic signatures directly in file viewer

"These updates bring you a more efficient, interactive, and intelligent file experience," Microsoft said.

These enhancements are now rolling out to OneDrive for work and SharePoint customers including GCC customers. Microsoft plans to expand these improvements to file viewer in Teams later this year.