How do I undo ‘remove shortcut’ of my own folder? Having huge issues with OneDrive

Question

How do I undo ‘remove shortcut’ of my own folder? Having huge issues with OneDrive

Anonymous

So I’m suddenly having a ton of weird syncing issues in my personal OneDrive account, namely that certain folders of mine are suddenly appearing as shared folders even though they’re my own and haven’t been shared with anybody.

I noticed that I couldn’t move any files to these folders (they’d appear greyed out as if I didn’t have permission to move files to my own folders?), that I had to reinstall the app to make these folders update every time I uploaded something, and that the folders wouldn’t show up when I searched for them in the search bar.

So when I was experimenting with all the options trying to find a solution to these, I stupidly clicked ‘Remove shortcut’ of one of the so-called shared folders and now I can’t find it anywhere. It just completely disappeared from its location, and it wasn’t showing up in searches to begin with so the search bar shows no results. And even though it claims it’s a shared folder, it doesn’t appear in the shared tab.

I’d been doing this on the app on my phone, so I went to the app on my iPad, where I quickly managed to click ‘Details’ on the folder just before it synced and disappeared, hoping that I could copy the link to it, but it says ‘We can’t get the link’, and says ‘Something went wrong’ when I try to open it in other apps or add another outlook account of mine to its permissions. I clicked ‘Make available offline’ and it didn’t seem to do anything either.

I’m assuming if it disappeared on iPad too that if I logged onto OneDrive on my computer or any other device it’d do the same. So what do I do? How do I find this folder? It was a huge folder with tons of important photos saved. I see there’s a ‘reset account’ option on the app that promises it helps with syncing issues, will that restore the ‘shortcut’ that shouldn’t even be a shortcut because it’s my own folder??? Or will that just make it even harder to recover??

EDIT: Ok I found the lost folder in the recycle bin??? I recovered it and every single file in there has a recycled icon next to it, and the icon seems to go away when I click on the file but it keeps crashing when I click the file??? From what I can tell, I’m having to click on every file one by one for it to not think it’s being recycled? Microsoft, what the hell are you doing????? Still need to fix the folder issue too, they’re useless until I can fix them, will ‘reset account’ help with that??

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8 answers

Answer 1

Hi B CAV

We have noticed that you have not replied to our last response. We would like to know if the issue you have raised to us is still on-going. If yes, please reply to the thread so we can continue troubleshooting your concern.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Lonex P.

Microsoft Moderator

Answer 2

Hi B CAV

It’s good to hear that the files themselves have fully recovered, but the fact that your folders are still behaving like shared ones and not appearing in searches is definitely frustrating. Since this issue is affecting multiple folders across different sizes and activity levels, it seems like something deeper than just a syncing glitch.

About Reset Account

Resetting your OneDrive account on your phone is somewhat similar to unlinking and relinking on a PC, but it’s not exactly the same. Unlinking and relinking on a PC disconnects your local OneDrive folder from the cloud temporarily, but your files remain intact. Resetting the account on mobile logs you out and clears cached data, forcing OneDrive to resync everything when you log back in.

Will Resetting Risk Losing Your Folders?

Since your folders are behaving strangely—being treated as shared when they’re actually yours—there’s a small risk that resetting could make them harder to recover if OneDrive doesn’t recognize them properly. However, since you were able to recover a lost folder from the Recycle Bin, that suggests OneDrive still has a record of them.

What You Can Try Before Resetting

Check OneDrive Online

Log into OneDrive on the web and see if the folders appear correctly there. If they do, you might be able to manually move them back into your main OneDrive directory.

Try Unlinking & Relinking on Another Device

If you can access OneDrive on another device (like an iPad or another phone), try unlinking and relinking there to see if it refreshes the folders.

Check the Shared Tab Again

Even though the folders didn’t appear in the Shared tab before, check again after refreshing OneDrive.

Manually Move the Folders

If you can find the folders somewhere in OneDrive, try manually moving them into a new location to see if that resets their status.

If You Decide to Reset

If none of the above work, resetting might be worth a try. Just make sure you back up any critical files before doing so, in case OneDrive doesn’t recognize them properly afterward.

Let me know how it goes! Hopefully, we can get this sorted out without losing anything important. OneDrive can be incredibly useful—when it’s not randomly deciding to make life difficult.

Best Regards,

Lonex P.

Microsoft Moderator

Answer 3

Yes it’s mostly still ongoing, the recycled icon thing seemed to be temporary, probably was just taking time to recover a lot of files and it’s fully recovered now, but it’s still calling it a shared folder and not coming up in searches etc.

There are also dozens of other folders with the same problem that I basically can’t use, seemingly at random as they range from tiny folders I haven’t touched in years to large active ones, so it’s not strictly a syncing issue.

OneDrive is up to date on all devices so that’s not the issue.

I want to try the ‘reset account’ option because I don’t know what other option there is left, but would that risk losing these folders altogether if they’re apparently not really registered as mine?

I also currently can’t access that OneDrive account on a computer. I remember having a similar issue with false shared folders before that was fixed by unlinking the PC and then relinking it. Is ‘reset account’ the phone equivalent of that?

Answer 4

Hi B CAV

We have noticed that you have not replied to our last response. We would like to know if the issue you have raised to us is still on-going. If yes, please reply to the thread so we can continue troubleshooting your concern.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Lonex P.

Microsoft Moderator

Answer 5

Hi B CAV

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

I understand the frustration you are experiencing with your OneDrive syncing issues. To address the problem of your folders appearing as shared folders and the issue with the removed shortcut, here are some steps you can take:

To undo the 'Remove shortcut' action and restore your folder, you can try the following:
- Go to the OneDrive website on a computer.
- Navigate to the "Recycle bin" section.
- Locate the folder you removed the shortcut for and restore it from the recycle bin.
- Check if the folder is now accessible and no longer showing as a shared folder.
Regarding the syncing issues and the recycled icons on your files:
- It's recommended to ensure that your OneDrive app is up to date on all your devices.
- Try syncing your files again after restoring the folder from the recycle bin to see if the issue persists.
- If the files are still showing as recycled icons and crashing when clicked, you may need to contact Microsoft Support for further assistance.
The "Reset account" option in the OneDrive app can help resolve syncing issues, but it may not directly address the folder visibility problem. You can try using this option if the syncing problems persist after restoring the folder.

If you continue to experience difficulties, please reach out to Microsoft Support for more personalized assistance with your specific OneDrive account.

Best Regards,

Lonex P.

Microsoft Moderator

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How do I undo ‘remove shortcut’ of my own folder? Having huge issues with OneDrive

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