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How to stop automatically syncing SharePoint when I restart my computer

Anonymous
2020-04-27T15:40:49+00:00

I have stopped syncing a shared folder on SharePoint for Business, because it is too large and I don't need to access the files. However, when I restart my computer, SharePoint automatically re-syncs all the files in this folder and gets backed up again. Is there a setting that allows me to restart my computer without re-syncing the folders I don't need?

Microsoft 365 and Office | SharePoint | For business | Windows

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-04-27T19:29:54+00:00

    Hi Mhenry982,

    Thanks for posting in the community, I’m glad to offer help.

    According to your description, I think the best solution is to enable “Files On-Demand”:

    1. Go to OneDrive settings > enable “Files On-Demand”

     

    1. Open File Explorer > go to your SharePoint sync folder > untick “Always keep on this device” and select “Free up space” for those folders you don’t want to keep on your device, although they can be shown on your device, but they won’t download automatic if you don’t use them.

     

    Hope the above method can help you, please feel free to post back if you have any concerns, I’ll continue to help you.

    Best Regards,

    Arck

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-04-27T22:20:11+00:00

    I would disable the sync client completely - it's very buggy and causes all sorts of problems. It's a nice idea but Msft isn't very good at implementing things like this. Not one of their strengths as you can tell.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-04-28T15:53:38+00:00

    Thank you, but I already had "Always keep on this device" unchecked, and I already selected to "Free up space." So that is not the issue.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-04-28T16:14:08+00:00

    To further explain, I have already done the following:

    • Stop syncing the site (but I left it in my file explorer rather than deleting it)
    • Free up space
    • Files on Demand is checked

    However, every time I restart my computer, it re-syncs the tens of thousands of large files on the site that I had stopped syncing before. It always gets stuck and lags within seconds, and then it fails to sync any work I do at all in SharePoint, including files in other sites which I do have synced to my file explorer. So then I'm completely stuck.

    Why does it re-sync the site that I stopped syncing when I restart my computer? How can I prevent this?

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