If you’re a Windows user, you probably have a SkyDrive account. If not, you can create one by following these steps:

  1. Open Explorer and click on the three lines in the top left corner of the screen. This will open your system Preferences.
  2. In the System Preferences window, click on the Accounts tab and then click on the Add button.
  3. Type inskydrive into the text field and click on Add to SkyDrive. You’ll be asked to enter your password if you don’t already have one. If you do have a password, enter it into the Password field and then click on OK to add your account to Explorer.

SkyDrive Explorer

After installing SkyDrive Explorer…go into My Computer and you’ll see the drive listed.

To access the drive you’ll need to sign into your Windows Live account.

Now you should see all of the folders and files you have created and stored in your SkyDrive.

You aren’t able to open files directly from SkyDrive Explorer, but you can copy, delete, and rename them. Before deleting an item, you’ll get a confirmation dialog box making sure you want to permanently delete it from the SkyDrive.

Creating a new folder in your SkyDrive.

Another handy feature is being able to copy the URL to a shared document on your SkyDrive so you can easily point other users to it.

It allows you to simply drag and drop documents from your computer into the SkyDrive…

And you can drag files from your SkyDrive to your desktop.

 

From the toolbar you can sign out of your SkyDrive.

It’s available in several different languages.

 

Conclusion

SkyDrive Explorer lets you easily access your SkyDrive as you would any other drive connected to your PC. Unfortunately Microsoft still  limits an individual file size of 50MB per upload. If you’re looking for something to store large media files, SkyDrive isn’t the best choice. For smaller files and documents, SkyDrive Explorer works great for storage, access, and collaborations. It will work on XP, Vista, 2003, 2008, and Windows 7. If you use your Windows Live SkyDrive to store and share documents, this handy Windows Explorer extension will make the process much easier.

Download SkyDrive Explorer