Delays Saving Files to SharePoint from Office Applications

Question

Hey Q&A,

We have users reporting delays when saving files within the Office applications to SharePoint document libraries. Within the Office SaveAs screen, the SharePoints are showing under "Quick access". If a user selects "Browse" and then chooses the same location, the issue does not occur.

When saving files in this way, the file seems to save to SharePoint immediately but that same SharePoint synchronising through File Explorer does not reflect the changes for 5 or so minutes.

My theory is that Office maintains its own connection to SharePoint, saves the file directly, and then the OneDrive Sync Client must synchronise that change back down to reflect the change in File Explorer.

Has anyone come across this before, or know if it's possible to change the saving behaviour of Office to save to the local copy of SharePoint, and then let the OneDrive Sync Client upload the change?

Cheers!

Answer 1

Hi @Thomas Samuel ,

The delays you're experiencing when saving files to SharePoint from Office applications can be attributed to how Office interacts with SharePoint and the OneDrive Sync Client. When you save a file directly from an Office application to SharePoint, it does indeed maintain its own connection to SharePoint, which can lead to immediate saving of the file but may not reflect those changes in File Explorer right away due to the synchronization process handled by the OneDrive Sync Client.

Unfortunately, there isn't a built-in option to change the saving behavior of Office applications to first save to a local copy of SharePoint and then let the OneDrive Sync Client handle the upload. The current design is such that Office applications save directly to SharePoint, and the OneDrive Sync Client subsequently synchronizes those changes.

If users are finding that saving through the "Browse" option results in immediate updates, it may be worth encouraging this method as a workaround until a more permanent solution or update is available.

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