What happened to the old "On This Day" memory display in OneDrive

Question

What happened to the old "On This Day" memory display in OneDrive

Mark Reid 40

Up until recently I would get daily notifications for "on this day" photo memories from OneDrive.

Recently this changed. I still get the notifications but when I open them it is now a slideshow.

The slideshow is absolutely useless! I can't proceed through images, I can't go back, I can't download any images that interest me!

Is there a way to restore the old "on this day" notifications response which simply opened a photo album of images from this day, throughout the years?

At least with the old option I could navigate and download at will, this new format cannot do either that I can tell!

Adam Duus-Boolsen 10 Reputation points

2025-08-13T07:40:18.0066667+00:00

I agree that the slideshow is pretty useless (I came here while searching for a way to shut it off), but you can just swipe up to go to the old gallery view. If you're using the mobile app, that is...
Jim Johnson 10 Reputation points

2025-09-03T14:10:18.36+00:00

Hate the default slideshow for the Memories function. It is much slower to download & start than the old gallery view. Yes, you can get back to the gallery via a button toward the upper right, but there is no way to make this the default.

Some of my photos are memories, and I want to linger (can't in slideshow mode) and others were 'record shots' of things like serial numbers to find parts. In gallery mode I can quickly delete them as no longer needed, again, not so in slideshow mode.

MS is trying (and failing) to imitate the "Story" function in the Android Gallery. I don't much use that either.

4 answers

Your answer

Adam Duus-Boolsen 10 Reputation points

2025-08-13T07:40:18.0066667+00:00

I agree that the slideshow is pretty useless (I came here while searching for a way to shut it off), but you can just swipe up to go to the old gallery view. If you're using the mobile app, that is...
Jim Johnson 10 Reputation points

2025-09-03T14:10:18.36+00:00

Hate the default slideshow for the Memories function. It is much slower to download & start than the old gallery view. Yes, you can get back to the gallery via a button toward the upper right, but there is no way to make this the default.

Some of my photos are memories, and I want to linger (can't in slideshow mode) and others were 'record shots' of things like serial numbers to find parts. In gallery mode I can quickly delete them as no longer needed, again, not so in slideshow mode.

MS is trying (and failing) to imitate the "Story" function in the Android Gallery. I don't much use that either.

Answer 1

Mark Reid 40

Solution found, and it was staring me in the face (Well, behind a click then staring me in the face anyway).

When on PC, click the slideshow then click "view memory" and like dark dark evil magic, the old gallery view returns 😁

KS 15 Reputation points

2025-08-16T01:54:38.1133333+00:00

Don't feel bad because 'view memory' was not leading back to the old gallery view as of 2 days ago - something has changed. I tried looking at that before and it did not result in the gallery view. It does now though, so thanks for pointing it out!
Rodney Kern 5 Reputation points

2025-09-25T15:11:31.0666667+00:00

This still necessitates an additional click to return to the original, more functional interface. Is there a setting that allows defaulting to the more intuitive and user-friendly view? The new interface does not adequately support our requirements.
Ronda Reagan 0 Reputation points

2026-01-26T16:16:27.3566667+00:00

Just clicking on the slide show first photo does nothing on my Dell PC. Where are you clicking to bring back the individual photos?
Mark Reid 40 Reputation points

2026-01-26T21:34:56.7766667+00:00

Once the webpage opens with the automatic slideshow, there will be 2 or 3 floating buttons (they move depending on the view you are on and screen size). One button looks like a series of Domino tiles or 'bricks'. Click that.

Answer 2

Loraine Ellison 0

On my iPhone I select from the email notices, “One Drive: Your memories from this day.” The slide show begins. At top right of one of the pictures select the three dots and select: “View this Moment.” The usual option is now showing below the slide show. You can still scroll up to select the slide show or scroll down to see the pictures for the day/date.

0 comments

Answer 3

Hi folks,

I thought I answered this one myself a while ago, but for anyone else who doesn't already know. When you are viewing the "memory" page, when it starts there is actually a "view memory" button in the top left corner (I'm viewing on a windows pc).

Once you click the "view memory" button it does take you back to the "old fashioned" photos page where you can see, select and download the specific photos from the memory that you want.

I just never noticed this in the earlier days as I would open it in background and come back to the page (when the "view memory" button has already disappeared).

Answer 4

AceRobertT 14,405

Hello Mark. Microsoft has recently updated the way "On this day" photo memories are shown in OneDrive. The new interface is a slideshow instead of showing the photo memories as an album. The new interface has limited functionality in that users are unable to navigate freely between photos, go back one photo or download a photo directly from memory. While there isn't an option to go back to the old way of arranging the photos, users may continue to look back through their historic photos by going to the OneDrive Photos page and filtering by photo date. If the slideshow is more irritating than helpful, you can turn off "On this day" by right-clicking the OneDrive icon in the taskbar, selecting Settings > Notifications and toggling off the memory alerts.

Best regards,

Mark Reid 40 Reputation points

2025-08-13T02:46:37.5433333+00:00

Thanks,

I will use the slideshow as a "cursory glance" preview of the files then go hunting for the ones I actually want if I see them. Only problem I see is that I won't get to see them all as the slideshow is just painfully slow and can't be scrolled.

It is pretty poor that these implementations can occur that actually (and knowingly) reduce functionality for the end users, and that vendors choose to implement them anyway with no 'escape clause' for users who actually liked using the service.
Adam Duus-Boolsen 10 Reputation points

2025-08-13T07:42:21.31+00:00

On the mobile app you can just swipe up to go to the old gallery view.
Mark Reid 40 Reputation points

2025-08-13T09:11:21.6766667+00:00

Thanks, but I'm using it on pc.
KS 15 Reputation points

2025-08-13T21:15:51.4166667+00:00

This new 'feature' is just another example of Microsoft adding limitations and calling them improvements.
KS 15 Reputation points

2025-08-13T21:19:16.7533333+00:00

@AceRobertT can you please point out where the date filtering functionality exists on OneDrive for the web (using chrome on desktop). There is no intuitive way to filter by date except scrolling vertically; that is not a solution. I hope I have just missed where the proper date filtering exists. Thanks!
Mark Reid 40 Reputation points

2025-08-13T21:24:47.07+00:00

It was mentioned previously you can "swipe up" to skip the slideshow on mobile, which would show the relevant photos in the gallery. Is there any equivalent action on desktop (I use chrome but could switch it to edge if that is how petty the microsoft/google flexing status is now).

I do not have touch screen on computer as well so it needs to be a mouse or keyboard action if it exists, or was it totally overlooked and disregarded in favour of this less-than-useful "enhancement" ?

Alternately is there an actual filter option to use for date searching?

Please don't suggest "just scroll down". With over a decade of memories in there and 12gb+ I would get RSI even just thinking about attempting that 😁!
JD Cobelli 5 Reputation points

2025-08-14T13:10:36.04+00:00

Very disappointing change. I loved the old feature...I hope the outcry is great enough that they bring it back.
Richard Keeling 75 Reputation points

2025-08-19T13:49:56.8466667+00:00

This new "feature" is utter garbage!! No one asked for it, it slows down Edge completely - and further evidence that Microsoft has zero care when it comes to what their paying users want!
Rodney Kern 5 Reputation points

2025-09-25T15:14:41.9966667+00:00

I feel that the time spent developing the slideshow feature could have been better used on more essential functionality—such as a shareable photo album that allows multiple OneDrive users to contribute their photos collaboratively.
Scott Haugen 0 Reputation points

2025-10-15T02:02:08.8533333+00:00

Thank you for destroying something I used to look forward to. Love clicking on the email link to check out all the pics over the years, but now with this slideshow that autoplays with no way to turn it off you've managed to suck all the fun out of it. What's next - are you going to take away my ability to move the taskbar to the side of the screen rather than the bottom? Oh wait.
Don Francisco 5 Reputation points

2025-10-15T10:57:55.3366667+00:00

This is another example of Microsoft trying to run our lives. Whatever happened to the old days of having many ways to do something. Many of my friends are changing to the more expensive Apple products. I think I'll do the same when this thing crashes.
Jim Johnson 10 Reputation points

2025-10-15T12:45:22.67+00:00

Some probably like the slideshow. MS can fix the problem by adding a control to change the default display slideshow vs the older photo memories that have a slidestrip with year (and often location).

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What happened to the old "On This Day" memory display in OneDrive

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