Office 2013 is now available to download in a preview version, so its users already know that the next version of Microsoft's productivity software suite also has SkyDrive features. Today, Microsoft offered up more details on how its SkyDrive cloud-based storage service will be integrated and used in Office 2013.

Going in we recognized that changing the default save location to SkyDrive was going to be critical to get right because it affects one of the most basic operations of our products. Saving to the cloud offers anywhere access to content through the new Office. This allows our users to move from device to device without having to worry where their content (or Office app) resides. Saving to the cloud also enables collaboration scenarios like coauthoring which aren't possible when a file is just saved on your local machine.

However, there are things we take for granted every time we save to our local device. Things like easily being able to access the files while offline, or being able to use Windows Desktop search to find a file by name or content within. In fact, over 90% of all Office files are opened from File Explorer today. We knew that if we wanted to change where people saved, local file browse and search would still need to work, and saving to the cloud needed to be just as easy to understand as local file management is today.

If we look at current cloud based solutions, the answer seems simple. First, create an app to sync your files to the device you're working on, then open those files locally. At first glance, this simplistic model seems to work. The major problem though, is opening these local files leaves you with just that—a local file. This approach doesn't allow multiple people or devices to work on the file simultaneously and often causes conflicts. Syncing apps attempt to resolve these conflicts by making a duplicate of your content.

With the next version of Office, we've created a no-compromise solution to these problems. Your documents will be saved to the cloud so you can easily share and collaborate with others. The integration between Office and SkyDrive for Windows mans your documents will sync locally and be cloud connected. Browsing your files on SkyDrive will not be affected by network latency or service availability.

You may have seen that SkyDrive for Windows is included in consumer editions of the next version of Office. In fact, if you've downloaded the Home Premium preview, SkyDrive is already on your computer! To get the app up and running, all you have to do is save a document to your personal SkyDrive. Once you have saved a document to SkyDrive or opened a document from the web site, the SkyDrive for Windows applications will automatically start syncing your content.