As SkyDrive’s usage doubles, Microsoft updates its mobile apps to enable selective syncing

Microsoft has seen usage of its SkyDrive service double over the last six months when it released its first desktop application.

In an announcement today, the company said that its releasing an update to its desktop apps that now gives users the ability to choose what they want to sync, which can be done right from Windows File Explorer.  In addition, both the Windows Phone and Android apps have been updated with improvements designed to help make accessing SkyDrive much easier.

Critically, on Windows, you can now sync from SkyDrive specific folders, allowing computers with smaller machines to conserve hard-disk space. Microsoft mentions tablets in this sense. If you were looking for a way to spell Surface, this is it.

Key among the updates: Search functions and photo uploads have been improved for both Android and Windows Phone. In short, if you are SkyDrive user, today the experience was improved.

This slew of updates is not a moment too soon; given the large position that SkyDrive plays in the Windows mix now, as Windows leans on it as its cloud storage layer in all laces, becoming the simplest, most pervasive tool of its sort if required.

To its credit: The service has doubled in size. However, given how large a role it plays in Windows 8, we should not just see it double again, but quadruple in the next 6 months.

Top Image Credit: damo1977