OneDrive sync for "Shared with you" files
Currently the sync engine only syncs your own OneDrive files/folders. If you want to view files that are shared with you, you have to go to the online interface. Please consider making the OneDrive sync support files/folders that appear under the "Shared with you" folder. It would be great if a user could choose which of the shared folders can be synced (so they're not syncing everything that was shared with them). It would also be nice if, when sharing a file, you can choose whether or not to allow the file to be synced to other user's OneDrive.
Holly @ Bechtel
shared this idea
For personal users, you can select a folder that was shared with you and click on “Add to my OneDrive”. This will cause that folder to start syncing. For business users, you can navigate to a folder that was shared with you, and click the “Sync” button. We don’t have plans to support syncing of individually shared files at this time.
43 comments
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Charlie Rube
commented
Some method of syncing individual files shared with you is quite important. In the course of work, people often share files as necessary, not folders. Someone's not going to make a folder each time they want to share a file with someone. Some method, perhaps like GSuite add link to file into personal drive which then enables it to sync down to computer could be an options.
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Matt Robertson
commented
These threads are so confusing!!! The original question was how to sync a shared file (not folder) shared with me in OneDrive. It seems that there is no way to sync an individual file shared with me and that is not already in a folder. AND...there is no way for me to put that shared file into a folder in order to sync it without creating a copy. Am I wrong?
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Phil A
commented
After clicking "Add to my oneDrive" I DO see the shared folder. Great. But all the files have a cloud icon next to them, not the green sync item. This after a couple of hours.
Are they slowly synching in the background and in a day or two will all be green?
For now, the only ones that have gone green are the ones that I've manually accessed on my PC. -
DAB
commented
When I "Add to my OneDrive" a large "shared with me" folder it creates problems when the added folder is larger than the space I have available on my computer. I would be nice if this folder could be added to my OneDrive without automatically sync'ing the entire contents of that folder to my computer SSD.
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Maverick Martin
commented
I am a little amused that "Boom! It's Done." only took 3 years and 2 months.
I am confused. Until today I thought OneDrive for Business worked the same way as Dropbox. I have been telling my users to begin using OneDrive and they could expect a similar interface. However, I have discovered I may have been laboring under a misconception. While attempting to show a user how easy it is to share folders. I was completely lost. It works NOTHING like Dropbox.
I don't suppose it ever will, which leaves me two options:
1. Try to make some sense out of the way Microsoft requires you to only use shared folders with the web interface because the instructions to try to get it to the desktop are outrageously convoluted and confusing for the "normals". Even when it works it is flat ugly. Imagine having 43 separate SharePoint folders in my File Explorer for all the folders people share with me.
2. Pay for Dropbox.
I am extremely disappointed with Microsoft for designing such an inelegant process. -
Christian Menkens
commented
BOOM! It's done badly. … for our business account, when I do SYNC, the files end up not in OneDrive folder of explorer, but in a new SharePoint folder. WHAT? SharePoint, that old stuff. I am stunned how bad this can be implemented by MS if there are sooo many examples with Box and DropBox on how to do it correctly and perfectly. … and the fact that you are just deciding to ignore individually shared files is very bad, again, there are perfect examples of user experience that MS just need to copy with Box and DropBox.
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Mui
commented
MS, our team members are all remote and living in different parts of the state. I love the OneDrive personal accounts, but the omission of the essential feature of being able to sync shared folders is beyond my comprehension. More and more employees are working remotely. Only basic features are available when editing in the browser., understandably so. It's very hard to take the idea of the "highly collaborative MS 365" seriously. I think the great majority of the user community wants to replace Google Drive and Dropbox with an all-in-one tool, but the omission of this capability will keep people from eschewing your competitors.
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Chris M.
commented
Yes, for us corporate users, this would be an *essential* feature to implement in the future.
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Scott Wilkins
commented
It's sad this experience is different between the personal OneDrive and the Business OneDrive. The shared folders should sync by name only to the desktop experience for business users. Plus shared folders should show they are shared like they do on the personal side.
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Jon
commented
This feature is already there: go to the web interface, right-click the folder that's been shared with you, and choose "Add to my OneDrive". The folder then appears in your OneDrive, and you can manage it just like any other.
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Justin Huang
commented
There are two other requests similar to this one:
+ https://onedrive.uservoice.com/forums/913522-onedrive-on-windows/suggestions/12915912-sync-the-shared-with-me-folder-from-one-drive-fo
+ https://onedrive.uservoice.com/forums/913522-onedrive-on-windows/suggestions/9153457-allow-shared-folders-to-be-synced-to-local-drive-e -
Julie Hite
commented
Please combine all ideas that are saying this same thing! Then you'll easily have over 500!
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Nate
commented
It sort of exists. If you're in OneDrive for business and you go to the shared with me section, you then have to click Classic OneDrive. You can still can't sync files, but if you go into a folder, the sync button is then there for me. If you're not seeing the sync button then, you may want to contact your IT Admin as there is a checkbox they have to make sure is on in the OneDrive Admin center that allows the sync button to be shown.
After syncing the folder (in this clunky way), it then creates a separate location on my computer where it syncs, rather than in the company onedrive account folder.
This are too many footnotes and gotchas to this process. Microsoft just needs to make this seamless like all of their competitors did 10+ years ago. -
Onedrive for Business User
commented
This exists already. I know some of these websites look "sketchy" but it actually works, the top two I used for onedrive for business.
https://hansbrender.com/2016/12/26/onedrive-for-business-local-sync-of-shared-with-me-files/
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Clement Lee
commented
I agree with everyone. MS, add this feature for OneDrive for Business, your competitors have this feature.
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Tomasz
commented
MS, you are really extraordinary. I am paying so much money for your E5 business plan and my shared folder does not appear in my customer's personal One Drive - at all. Neither in Shared with Me, not mentioning syncing folders with their One Drive local folder.
I am not suprised they are using Dropbox or Google Drive. I am also suprised myself - is there really a benefit to pay you so much money for E5 with these limited basic capabilities. -
Robert Leroux
commented
I agree with everyone. MS, add this feature for OneDrive for Business, your competitors have this feature.
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Marla
commented
> Do I really have to manually download a copy every time and then upload the amended copy?
Crazy! Please add this feature!
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Anonymous
commented
UMass Boston wants this feature as well!!
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Steve
commented
This is particularly important for Microsoft Access files as I can't open a shared database that is on OneDrive nor extract data from it with PowerQuery.
Do I really have to manually download a copy every time and then upload the amended copy?
