File duplicates are created in SharePoint

Question

Hello,

for some days, duplicates of files are created in SharePoint. Upon every edit, a copy is created and a number is added to the new file (see screenshot).

So, we use SharePoint as a document library. We are 3 people in the company. I and one other use the SharePoint to acces files. The third person in the team has set up a OneDrive sync to his local machine, so he accesses files from here.

This has worked perfectly for 2½ years. But now it does not.

I found a setting in SharePoint to create versioning. I thought maybe one of my colleage enabled this, so I disabled versioning. Problem persists.

I also disabled autosave on a file to see if it made a difference. No effect - problem persists.

A strange thing is that when I edit a file and it replicates itself, in SharePoint it appears as if it was my colleage (the one with the local sync) who created and modified the file. My name is not there. 

So, I suspect that it could be the sync job that does something. 

Another thing pointing in this direction - when I delete a file through the SharePoint interface, after a few seconds, the file re-appears. Again, from the guy with the sync to local disk, I assume.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Morten

Answer 1

So, my colleage and I did some more testing.

For the document library in question, we stopped sync on his PC. And from SharePoint we synced again. As suggested

The green sync icon does not appear on his machine, but the duplicates keep being created when I work in SharePoint and his machine is one. 

--> so - stopping sync, and syncing down a fresh copy has no effect.

So, we tried the opposite. I synced down the doc library to my machine and he was the one working in Sharepoint 

--> same result. There was not green sync icon on my machine, but it does sync. It also creates duplicates, however.

A few days ago, we tested other document libraries to provoke the error, but everything worked fine (and the green sync icon was on those folders).

So - today we took another of the libraries and synced to my machine also. So, one library in SharePoint synced to two local copies. What happened now is very strange. Without any of the files being edited (in SharePoint or by Excel, Word, whatever), new copies started to appear. In the root of the folder it made about 10 copies of each file there, and name them filename+ "-1", filename+ "-2". I hurried to stop syncing to my local machine and it stopped.

So - what have we learned:

1. If we take a previously working document library from SharePoint and sync down locally, the problem will start there (no green icon, but sync happens). For document libraries where the sync was started months ago, no problem (and they have green icon)
2. if we have 2 local syncs of a SharePoint document library, and we are online at same time, the sync will "go in circles" and create copies of files - even though the file is not currently worked on.

So - the combination of a recently synced document library and both of us being only creates copies when file is edited in SharePoint and one of us has a sync local. And it creates multiple copies if we both have the same folder synced down (even for files not being worked on).

very strange - any help is greatly appreciated.

Answer 2

Hi Morten,

Thanks for the updates. Please help us to check the scenarios below:

1.       Please go to your colleague’s computer, right click the OneDrive icon > Settings > Account > Stop sync all the libraries to see if the issue is caused by this sync client.

2.       If the issue persists, please stop sync on all computers, then edit files only online to see if the duplicated files still appear.

In the meantime, have you reset OneDrive on these computers as I suggested in my initial post? If the issue persists after you have followed the steps in this reference to reset OneDrive, to move forward to help you, we would like to collect the information below:

1.       The OneDrive sync client version. Make sure you have Installed the latest version of the new OneDrive sync client. You can provide us the version by right-clicking OneDrive icon > settings> About > About Microsoft OneDrive. For example: version 2017 (Build 17.3.7073.1013).

2.       The Windows OS version of these computers. For example: 1703.

3.       Your tenant information. To protect your privacy, I have sent you a private message to collect them. Please access it via the link below:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/privatemessages/inbox

Thanks,

Rena

Answer 3

Hi Morten,

Have you tried any steps above? If the issue persists, please provide the information above and reply my private message when you have time.

Thanks,

Rena

Answer 4

Hi Rena,

sorry for the delay. This is the current status:

1. We tried pausing the sync on co-workers PC. During this pause, the problem stopped. After resuming the sync, the problem came back
2. We tried to follow this:

Right click the OneDrive sync icon>Settings>Office>sync conflicts to check if you select “Always keep both copies (Rename the copy on this computer)”, change to choose “let me choose to merge changes or keep both copies” to see the result.

The setting was already "let me choose to merge...." - so, this was not the explanation

3. We tried to reset OneDrive on co-workers PC as per your instructions. The problem persists.

Further information:

• The problem only exists for 1 of several SharePoint document libraries
• This particular library does not have a sync "overlay" icon on my co-workers PC, but sync DOES happen - but also the duplication of files.

The above leads me to believe that my co-worker's sync is the root of the problem.

His OneDrive build version is 17.3.7076.1026

His Windows is Windows 10 Pro 10.0.15063

So - I am thinking - since the problem is only for 1 of the synced SharePoint document libraries - can we do something to remove the current sync for this library only? And to start over for this library?

Thanks for your help.

Answer 5

Hi Morten,

Thanks for the updates. 

We still need the tenant information to move forward to help you. Please reply the information via the private message: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/privatemessages/inbox

Thanks,

Rena