Sync Restrictions and Problems

Owned by Martin Keen
Last updated: Jun 21, 2024 by Kathy DownhamVersion comment
2 min read

Introduction

OneDrive for Business has a number of limitations on what it is capable of syncing on both Windows or OSX. A full list is available at Microsoft: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3125202

Notable Restrictions

Invalid characters

The following characters in file names aren't supported when you sync OneDrive for Business:

# (number sign)
% (percent)
< (less than)
> (greater than)
: (colon)
" (double quote)
| (pipe)
? (question mark)
* (asterisk)

Open files can't be synced

Any file that’s currently opened by an application (for example, an Excel .xlsx file) can't be synced by OneDrive for Business. To sync the file, close any application where the file is currently being used, and then sync the file.

Size limit for syncing files

There is a 10-gigabyte (GB) file size limit for each file that is uploaded to the OneDrive for Business library.

OneNote notebooks

OneNote Notebooks can only be synced via a free consumer Microsoft account

Because OneNote notebooks have their own sync mechanism, they aren't synced by the OneDrive for Business sync client. Instead, you should save your OneNote files through OneNote or the web to OneDrive. OneDrive will create a stub file in your sync folder, depending where you saved the OneNote file

Number of items that can be synced

SharePoint Online has a limit of 30 million documents per library. There are other limits on viewing a document library by using the web that may limit how you structure your files in OneDrive.

Office integration

The current version of the next-generation sync client doesn’t yet have the deep Office integration you’ve come to expect. We are working with the Office team to bring this integration back as quickly as possible. In the meantime, if you typically open synced files from Windows Explorer, you will be opening the local file instead of the file that’s stored in SharePoint Online. There are several limitations:

  • You can’t participate in a co-authoring session on that file. Opening the file directly from the web will enable this capability.
  • If you try to share a file from the Office File menu or the in-space share menu, Office will warn you that you have to upload the file first.
  • You may see two most recently used entries for the same file. These entries include one entry for the local file and one cloud-URL entry.
  • If you have edit conflicts with a file (for example, you edited the same file from two devices without using co-authoring), you won’t be asked by Office to open the file to resolve conflicts. Instead, OneDrive for Business will fork the file, preserving both versions.