Users of SharePoint Online, have been heard! For a long time the users of SharePoint Online have been hammering away as Microsoft, in order to get proper pdf-handling. Anyone ever worked with SharePoint and PDF-files know that it’s not something that “Just works”. Sure, it’s semi-easy to get it to work. Just google it and you will get loads of guides. But when your’e on SharePoint Online it’s not something you can fix as an admin.

What does this mean?

More or less it just means, that if you have installed Adobe Acrobat Reader, a PDF-file will open directly in the browser instead of downloading. Attachments in llists – same way. As far as the MP4 update, it simply means that a Mp4 file will start playing before it’s completely downloaded, so streaming actually works.

Microsoft writes on their blog:

1. A PDF document stored in a SharePoint Online library it will simply launch within their Internet browser. This too applies to PDFs embedded as attachments within list items.

2. An MP4 video file stored in a SharePoint Online library will begin streaming much faster without downloading the full file first.
Source: Office 365 blog

This actually tells me that Microsft is listning to it’s users and even if you don’t think so, your comments and suggestions are heard.

[Office 365]