Sharepoint OneDrive and Excel: Upload Failed + New Version Available

Question

Hello,

For a few days, I have a lot of errors coming up from different users, but what makes it complicated is that not all of them have them...

These errors are "New Version Available" and "Upload Failed".

We have shared documents on a Sharepoint Librairy, that users can view and edit through Windows Explorer, OneDrive and (in this case) Excel.

For some people, everything works fine, even with co-authoring. For some other, when they try to open a file, they have always an error and can't work on it. This error is either:

• "Upload Failed" We can't merge your changes with those of another person. Save a copy and Excel doesn't respond. Or Discard changes and the file closes and reopens with the same error.

or

• "New Version Available" > Making a copy makes a copy but there is an error with the copied file, it cannot be uploaded to OneDrive (eventhough it has another name). Discard the change reopen the file and the first error above prompts.

I've tried so many things already:

• Restart computer
• Clear Office Upload Center, but it is empty.
• Restart OneDrive, by ending also the remaining processes (Microsoft OneDrive (32 bit) and Microsoft OneDrive Co-Authoring Executable (32 bit))
• Reset OneDrive (via %/OneDrive.exe /reset in cmd)
• Reset the sync with the Shared library
• Log out then in of Excel (and Office Apps)
• Keep files online (in OneDrive Windows Explorer > Free up space)
• Clear Excel Cache

Note: It is still perfectly possible to work online, with an internet browser.

Note: When someone opens this file and has the error, it still appears in the icon bar of users currently editing the file (visible from another user).

I have no idea how to solve this, and no idea how to reproduce it. We all have the same versions (from the company).

It does look like an error of sync between Excel and OneDrive. Like if Excel had a local copy it cannot update.

Answer 1

Hi G_711,

Sorry for the inconvenience the problem caused for you.

Based on your description, when some users try to open and co-authoring files from Excel client, errors will pop up and prevent them from working on it.

According to the errors you provided, it is possibile that an option in OneDrive client isn't been checked. You can open OneDrive Settings > Office > make sure "Use Office applications to sync files that I open" option is checked.

If the problem persists, could you please provide more information for me?

1.   Does the problem happen on all the files which are stored in the SharePoint library for these users?

2.   Does the problem happen on other Office files, such as: Word document?

3.   Are the files opened by these users in the "checked out" state?

4.   Your Office Version.

Appreciate your cooperation in advance.

Best regards,

Jazlyn

Answer 2

Hi,

This is checked yes. It has to be active to enable AutoSave.

1.   Not all.

2.   For now on just Excel, but we have very few Word. As I don't know how to reproduce the error, I cannot try unfortunately.

3.   What's the checked out state? From my point of view, they just open files by double-click (Win Explorer/OneDrive) or click > Open in App (Online)

4.   Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus

---

I want to add more details. After posting here, I found out how to hard-delete the Office Caches.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/upload-failed-attempting-to-access-sharepoint/dd893050-ec49-409b-9343-e523d1556a87?page=2

By removing the contents of

%LocalAppData%/Microsoft/Office/15.0 [or 16.0]/OfficeFileCache

and

/MruServiceCache 

Then Excel is forced to redownload all information from the Cloud and it works again... but not for long. After some editions from the user and others, the errors come back. You'll agree, it should not be the permanent solution.

These problematic files are used by up to a dozen of people at different moments of the day, sometimes at the same moment. It can be that OneDrive Sync and Excel (probably also Office products) Cache do not keep up with all the changes.

---

A few more information:

I asked a colleague to open one of the file that hasn't been modified today.

The Excel opens but AutoSave is disabled (in the Options/Save/First line is checked, AutoSave should be ON when possible as default).

On the top, the status is "Saving in Progress". But it never ends.

We try to activate the AutoSave manually on the top left button, but nothing change.

After a few minutes, AutoSave disables itself and the error shows:

"Saving not possible, there is a problem with saving the file".

---

The following feature is also enabled on the Sharepoint Site:

SharePoint Server Enterprise Site Collection features

Features such as InfoPath Forms Services, Visio Services, Access Services, and Excel Services Application, included in the SharePoint Server Enterprise License.

I am now disabling it and see if it has an impact.

Answer 3

Hi G_711,

Thank you for spending time providing us the detailed information.

Since you mentioned that "open files by double-click (Win Explorer/OneDrive) or click > Open in App (Online)" at the beginning, we can know that no matter which method is used, problems happened to these users. Then the problem may have nothing to do with the OneDrive application.

You also mentioned that clearing Office cache can temporarily make the problem go away, then problem may be related to the Office application.

Given this situation, you can try the following methods which can be used to troubleshooting client issues:

1. Make sure your Office client is up to date. If not, please update to the latest version.
2. You can try Office safe mode to determine if the third party add-ins affect the office program. You can start Office with safe mode, then open the files via File > Open to select the files from the File Explorer(OneDrive sync folder).
3. Try to fix Office client, by performing an online repair.

Additionally, about the check out status, you can refer to this article: Check out or check in files in a document library

Best regards,

Jazlyn

Answer 4

Hi,

1. Current version 1908; 16.0.11929.20934; Semi-annual Enterprise Channel. Our company manages the updates.

Edit: I went through the computers and I found these versions: 1908.11929.20934, 1908.11929.20904 and 1908.11929.20838.

2. I will try when the next colleague let me know about the error, as I still don't know how to reproduce it.
3. I am not allowed to click on "Modify". It is locked by our company policy.
4. Thanks for the info, I didn't know this feature. None of us use the Check Out state anyway.

---

Some more info:

I opened a file from OneDrive on my computer.

Then I saw popup a colleague in. He opened through the Website in the App. He has AutoSave.

He made his stuff, as usual, and I could see them.

Immediately when he closed the document, I received an error "Upload failed".

But it is not always the case... which makes it complicated.

Could it be related to this? 

Opening document from different applications

There are several scenarios where people can access the same file stored on a cloud. One user may open a document from SharePoint, another user may access the same document from Microsoft Teams and a third user may open it from One Drive Explorer. In such a scenario the co-authoring session will most likely crash the document at some point. It’s easy to prevent this issue; simply communicate with co-authoring participants to ensure everyone accesses the document from the same application.

https://www.breadcrumbdigital.com.au/co-authoring-troubleshooting-tips/

or also this ?

• User A and User B open the file from SharePoint Online using "Edit in Browser" - No Problems.
• User A and User B open the file from SharePoint Online using "Edit in Word/Excel"  - No problems ( I think)
• User A opens online and User B Opens in local app - May have an issue.
• User A opens from OneDrive synced to SharePoint, User B opens from SharePoint - Will randomly crash.
• User A opens from SharePoint, either in browser or app, and User B opens from SharePoint in File Explorer, then opens in local app - Random crashes.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/office-365/excel-word-crashing-when-co-authoring/m-p/354332/highlight/true#M20337

My colleagues indeed have each their own habits, and some prefer to use OneDrive, some prefer to use Sharepoint Website for navigation. None of them should use the Excel-Online as it doesn't support macros, they use different browser and it is a lot slower with big files.

Answer 5

Hi G_711,

Thank you for the reply.

According to the versions, users are not using the latest version of Office applications, if possible, you could contact IT admin in your company to update these applications to the latest one. Then let these users check if the problem happened again on their side.

About the examples you provided in the "Some more info" part, we can see that users open the Excel files with different platforms. Given this situation, you could let users open from the same platform for a short time to check if the problem happens on some users during this time.

Additionally, you mentioned "None of them should use the Excel-Online as it doesn't support macros, they use different browser and it is a lot slower with big files.", may I confirm that did you mean that users are using macros on these files? If yes, this is one of the limitation for co-authoring, another limitation is using "links to another excel file(source file)" feature.

For your reference:

Co-authoring issue in Excel workbook with macros

Excel file with link to other excel files shows notification as "Your file wasn't uploaded because your changes can't be merged with changes made by someone else"

As macros and reference links are not supported in Excel Online and add the reference using Excel application, Excel application can’t simultaneously work when using these two features. So, you need to make sure that other users should not edit any content during the source change and macro to avoid the error.

Best regards,

Jazlyn