How to Access SharePoint Library in File Explorer

Question

I ran "Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant" on my OneDrive. It reported OneDrive may start to decline when you store more than 300,000 files in a single OneDrive business account. To work around this limit, ensure files are stored in multiple libraries." I have more than 900,000 files. So, I created 5 SharePoint Libraries. Moving the data from OneDrive into the new SharePoint Libraries took a long time. In order to see the new libraries, I clicked the link 'Add shortcut to OneDrive' on the SharePoint web interface. If I did not do that I could not see the file in File Explorer. Now when I run "Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant" on my OneDrive it still says I have more than 300,000 files, presumably because the OneDrive folder sees more than 900,000 files. But these are from shortcuts to 5 Libraries. How can I fix the situation, so the 5 SharePoint Sites are visible in File Explorer without exceeding the 300,000 limit?

According to video here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sync-sharepoint-files-and-folders-87a96948-4dd7-43e4-aca1-53f3e18bea9b you can add SharePoint to Windows File Explorer not using OneDrive. I can only get files locally on my hard drive by pressing the Sync Button in the SharePoint site AND pressing 'Add shortcut to OneDrive'. I have also managed get a SharePoint library available in file explorer as a network drive but then the files are not stored locally.

There are suggestions it can be made to work using the SharePoint classic view. But I have found classic view illusive. The option only appears on sites that I do not own?

How do I make multiple libraries available in file explorer but not using OneDrive or as a network drive?

Answer 1

Hi Harry,

Thanks for posting in the community.

For the reference you provided, it actually also uses the OneDrive client to sync these SharePoint libraries. After you sync the SharePoint library, the library folder will exist in the file explorer.

For your concern, yes, there is another way to map a drive to your document library without using the OneDrive client while in some threads, other members mentioned the sync issue would happen and you may have to remap again to fix the sync issue. Using the OneDrive client is a more stable way to synchronize files.

Based on the situation, I would like to suggest you still use the OneDrive client to sync SharePoint libraries. Please remove the shortcuts from your OneDrive (go to OneDrive for Web), then use the OneDrive client to sync these SharePoint libraries. Also, to store these files locally, you can right-click these SharePoint library folders/files in your file explorer and choose “Always keep on this device”. After that, please check again.

Regards,

George

Answer 2

Hi Harry,

I'm writing this reply to follow up on this thread, may I know if you have checked my reply? When you have time, you are welcome to come back and let us know if you still need help here.

Regards,

George

Answer 3

Hi George

I saw this page but I cannot get it to work. It suggests 'Select Sync in the toolbar'. When I do this a dialog comes up "Allow this site to open the odopen link? ...". I have the option to 'Choose Application' or 'Cancel'. If I click 'Choose Application' I get either 'OneDrive.exe. or 'Choose other Application'. I select OneDrive.exe because I do not know which other applications work. But using OneDrive.exe results in a dialog saying 'We're synching your files' . But Nothing further happens. Where are the files being synched? If I select both 'Select Sync in the toolbar' and 'Add shortcut to OneDrive' buttons then the SharePoint Site is added to my OneDrive as a shortcut and files are synched within it that I can see in File Explorer. But these files are added to the OneDrive file number quota so the exercise has been pointless. I am not using 'Files on Demand' so I do not see a right click option.

Thanks,

Answer 4

Hi Harry,

Thanks for posting back.

Please share a screenshot when the dialog “Allow this site to open the odopen link?” pops on. When I go to the SharePoint library in the browser and click the Sync button, the following windows pop on. I click Open, then this library is synced to my device.

Regards,

George

Answer 5

Don't get caught up in the "sync" mess - it doesn't work well and can lead to all kinds of problems like unwanted file deletions. Plus you're duplicating files locally which kind of defeats the purpose of using cloud storage. You can add any SP location to file explorer as a network location and open from/save to SP directly. There are other issues with exceeding the 5k item limit in SP libraries but that's a separate topic.

Here's how my file explorer looks: