what exactly is happening during automatic file downloads

Allen 1 Reputation point
2021-01-01T19:47:45.747+00:00

When icloud, dropbox, onedrive, etc. sync files to/from the cloud, are they using microsofts automatic file downloads feature? If so, is there an underlying windows api that I can use to control this functionality?

C#
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An object-oriented and type-safe programming language that has its roots in the C family of languages and includes support for component-oriented programming.
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OneDrive Management
OneDrive Management
OneDrive: A Microsoft file hosting and synchronization service.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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Windows Hardware Performance
Windows: A family of Microsoft operating systems that run across personal computers, tablets, laptops, phones, internet of things devices, self-contained mixed reality headsets, large collaboration screens, and other devices.Hardware Performance: Delivering / providing hardware or hardware systems or adjusting / adapting hardware or hardware systems.
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  1. Alberto Poblacion 1,551 Reputation points
    2021-01-02T08:17:52.303+00:00

    As far as I can tell, each of the cloud storage providers uses its own API. In Windows, you install some software that uses the corresponding API to perform the file downloads. So the functionality is not built into Windows, but rather depends on custom software from each provider.

    In the case of OneDrive, you can find the API documented here.

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  2. Emi Zhang-MSFT 21,626 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2021-01-04T09:09:13.083+00:00

    Hi @Allen ,
    Just checking in to see if the information of APoblacion was helpful. Please let us know if you would like further assistance.

    If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
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  3. Allen 1 Reputation point
    2021-01-04T14:19:25.193+00:00

    This gave part of the answer (the graph api) but still doesn't get to what is actually 'happening' which was the gist of my question. I was able to do deeper digging and found a lot of information on the placeholder file types and such. Interestingly, the icloud software uses the same onedrive / graph api that onedrive. I'm trying to trace what is happening on a cloud file from the time it appears to hydration which is still a mystery.

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