Microsoft announces OneDrive Personal Vault, a secure area within your OneDrive

What you need to know

  • OneDrive Personal Vault is a new feature that secures your documents on the cloud.
  • The feature creates a secured area in your OneDrive account.
  • It works with a PIN, fingerprint, face, or two-factor authentification.

Personal Vault works on Onedrive.com, PCs, and supported versions of the OneDrive app on Android and iOS.

In addition to placing files into Personal Vault, you can also scan documents, take photos, and shoot videos directly into Personal Vault.

When files are stored in Personal Vault on Windows 10 PCs, the files are synced to a BitLocker-encrypted area of your local hard drive. All OneDrive files are encrypted while they are at-rest in the cloud and when they are in-transit to devices.

Personal Vault will also protect your files by automatically shutting down after a period of inactivity. If you have a file open that is stored in Personal Vault, it will require reauthentification before you can access it.

Personal Vault will roll out first to users in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada and will be generally available to all users by the end of 2019.

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Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott is a news writer and apps editor for Windows Central with 11+ years of experience. A Nottingham Trent journalism graduate, Sean has covered the industry’s arc from the Lumia era to the launch of Windows 11 and generative AI. Having started at Thrifter, he uses his expertise in price tracking to help readers find genuine hardware value.

Beyond tech news, Sean is a UK sports media pioneer. In 2017, he became one of the first to stream via smartphone and is an expert in AP Capture systems. A tech-forward coach, he was named 2024 BAFA Youth Coach of the Year. He is focused on using technology—from AI to Clipchamp—to gain a practical edge.