OneDrive Shared Files no longer show up as local folders

Question

Until recently, like the last week, I could on OneDrive online and "add shortcut to my files". Then, it would show up on my PC as a local folder. Now, it only shows up as a shortcut and forces me to open it online. This is a step back in functionality and convenience. I share files with several users, and the drag-and-drop capability is now gone. I hope this is fixed soon. I have tried this on many different PCs and restarted OneDrive Sync, but the usual fixes are not working. Yes, I rebooted several PC's as well. Is this functionality now gone?

Answer 1

This is a global flaw that has been reported for weeks and until now Microsoft has not officially acknowledged the problem and gone public with its retraction. It is no longer possible to synchronize shared folders on Onedrive in Windows Explorer. They show as a shortcut to the internet. In other words, clicking on the folder will not open the files directly, but will instead take you to Onedrive online in the browser. This flaw is impacting thousands of offices that mainly use the "Microsoft Family" or "Personal" license to share files between employees . Because now they can only work 100% through the browser, which completely reduces productivity. And it's not just this problem that was found, Microsoft's services and websites are crashing all the time, several bugs in the processing of files directly in Onedrive were also found, but the worst thing is that Microsoft hasn't fixed this yet.

Answer 2

Hi @Eben Darling,

No, I didn't hear any update about this functionality and as per my test, it works normally in my environment. As you said, it should save a copy of the file/folder you add shortcut locally on the PC. I believe there may be something wrong in the backend. I found a thread who has similar issue to yours: Shared file shortcuts are not showing up on OneDrive Desktop App. In this case, this issue suddenly disappeared automatically after trying several times disconnecting and reconnecting account to OneDrive. I suggest you create a service request to Microsoft in Microsoft 365 admin center. Microsoft experts can have a remote session with you and help you check from the backend.

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Answer 3

Seems loads of people are having this issue.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/mac-onedrive-app-shared-folders-dont-appear-in/a9e0ef94-63a6-4522-94a2-9cac9fffd111?page=6

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/i-cant-sync-or-download-a-shared-folder-in/d6ca1a28-386e-4d6f-b5ed-1b1a4952325e

Not seen any feedback from MS and its been weeks

Answer 4

Please, please email onedrive support directly throught the help option in the app/ online. They say it's a priority but that is the same answer I got in July. Maybe a flood of complaints in their inboxes will help...

I got this reply from them. Apart from anything else, the poor English makes me mad. (No disrespect to second language learners, I know from experience how hard it is, but this is the face of Microsoft!)

[SIC]
I appreciate for sharing the detailed information with the article which helped in understanding the issue. 

 

Please be informed, we are aware of this issue and our engineering team is actively investigating to resolve it. We appreciate for helping us out to track this issue down. Ensure windows and OneDrive app are up to date.

 

Meanwhile, you can continue to click on the mounted folders and access the shared files with the web browser.

 

Currently there is no specific ETA as we are still working on the solution. However, the issue will be fixed soon because it is raised on high priority. 

 

We are archiving the case as we cannot troubleshoot it further but we are working on the case actively and will roll out a fix soon. 

Answer 5

Hi all,

I was having this problem but seem to have found a way around it, at least one that works for me anyways. I opened the file explorer and found the short cut folder. Right click the folder and choose ‘Always Keep on This Device’. It then converted the shortcut to a folder. I’ve tried uploading new files to the source folder and they do show up in file explorer. Hopefully this works for you guys.