File Hover Card

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File Hover Card's new features - Conversation and Activity

^＿＿ Why I Did It ^＿＿

Due to product team changes and low user engagement, the File Hover Card project had reached a crossroads.

Context

Team : The project team included one designer (myself), two product managers, and a engineering team composed of data, backend, and frontend engineers. A user researcher was brought in later to support usability testing.
‍Timeline : Joined in April 2019 - Feature release in January 2020
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Challenge

The feature lacked direction on how to drive user engagement.

Targeting for Microsoft Words, Powerpoint, Excel file type, our File Hover Card was designed to surface file insights to support user workflows. However, OneDrive users have diverse workflow, find what is essential for them isn’t straightforward. Early versions struggled with engagement — Version 1 saw minimal adoption, while Version 2, led by a team new to feature development, prioritized assumptions about what would drive clicks rather than understanding real user needs. It ultimately failed in internal testing.
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The reality is simple: If users don't find the file insights useful, they just won't engage.
I joined midway through V2 development when the path forward was ambiguous.
The feature lacked direction on how to meaningfully drive user engagement.
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My Goals

Clarifying User Value, Strategically Onboarding UX-Novice Teams

I needed to clarify what file insights truly delivered value in the user's context, while helping shape a user-centered mindset within the newly formed product team — shifting away from trial-and-error approach to set the foundation for future File Hover Card success.

User Painpoints

When users have to open unnecessary files and chase down scattered information,
it creates friction and slows their workflow.

It happens when
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Kat is looking for a file she worked on months ago, but it's lost among similar versions. She can’t identify which one is the right file just by name or timestamp, so she has to open them one by one.

Monica is searching for reference materials for her first proposal in a new domain. A keyword search returns too many results, and it's unclear which files are relevant. She ends up wasting time opening several that don’t meet her needs.

Alan collaborates on multiple quality reports across work streams. He wants a quick sense of how the work is going with each file (any progress, blocker or discussion), so he can prioritize his next actions effectively. However, with updates scattered across emails, chats, and the files themselves, Alan must repeatedly open files and switch between apps just to piece together a snapshot of each file.

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Design Goal

Surface the right file insights upfront to help users quickly
make informed decisions, and confidently move to their next action.

Why File Card V1 unable to engage users ?

Focus on File Analysis Signals narrowed the user value

File Summery and Viewers are included in V1. However, after reviewing previous File Card user studies, I found that the initial V1 approach focused on making file analysis signals useful in the hover card. This led to narrow use cases ultimately limiting the user value we could deliver.

Emails : Opening 52 emails to download, upload, and manually organize files.

→ Comprehend User Scenarios

Reveal Hidden Potential User Needs

I believe we need to comprehend our user scenarios, so we can figure out what file insights will effectively support users’ workflow. By redefine the user interaction with files, I formed hypotheses about the goals users have for each file group. This led a clear direction for exploring core user value.

Situation: Misalignment on the Value of UX

V2 Launch Prioritized Pre-decided Features Over Addressing Known UX Gaps

While I saw strong potential for File Hover Card features to drive user value and engagement, moving forward was challenging. The team was set on quickly shipping a "suggested sharing" feature as File Card V2 within a tight timeline, despite known UX issues and emerging opportunities. To navigate this, I created a shared File Card V-Next evolution plan to shift the focus from immediate misalignment to future collaboration.

→ Led Collaborative Design Session

User Focused Ideation on V-Next features

Hypothesis Map

User-focused ideation helped the team understand the user scenarios and pain points we were aiming to solve, while also helping me assess technical feasibility with engineers. We came up with 9 proposed V-next features that could shipped in 3-6 months.

→ Growing Cross-Org Partnership

Coherent Info Card experience across Microsoft

I reached out and collaborated with the People Card team from the Office Feed organization, leveraging their proven success to align on card coherence and apply lessons from their established design philosophy.

→ Socializing Design

Gathering interest in host-adaptive opportunities

Learning from the People Card team's success in driving business impact through integration across Microsoft apps, I proposed how the File Hover Card could enhance users’ daily workflows in products like Outlook and Teams. This sparked their interest in joint design.

Result : A Clear Feature Evolution Strategy with Key Partners

Secured Leadership Funding for a UX Researcher and User Study

We mapped the File Card’s evolution, highlighting strong potential for the File Hover Card. With growing cross-org interest, we secured leadership support and funding for a researcher to study proposed V-Next features.

From Hypothesis to Validation

What Do Users Really Need?

In this card sorting and interview user study, our goal is testing feature proposals, validating user scenarios, and collecting direct user feedback on features. The process moves us from assumption to validation.

Features Ranking and Pattern

For the next release, we prioritized “Conversation” and “Activity Highlight” to drive engagement, as they scored highest and addressed key user needs overlooked in V1. The study also revealed diverse scenario-based needs, which led me to further clarify user patterns and typical information needs. This informed our vision of an intelligent File Hover Card that surfaces personalized, context-relevant content.