OneDrive sync delay

Question

My file was synced to OneDrive from my tablet 14 minutes ago according to OneDrive in my browser. But the OneDrive instance on my desktop computer hasn't even bothered to check yet... it says "Processing changes" but the last activity was an hour ago. How can users disable this sync delay in OneDrive?

The desktop app doesn't have any kind of "refresh now" function. What recourse do users have except to wait? And wait. And wait. And wait some more. And hope that eventually, someday, OneDrive will (finally) sync their files.

Answer 1

Dear Patrick,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

Glad to hear that you found a quick workaround. That was so brilliant!

Meanwhile, to avoid sync delays to happen again in the feature, I would like to give you some suggestions below, and hope that will help you sync your files on computer with no delays:

1. Let us make sure that our OneDrive Sync app on the computer is up to date. If it is not updated, you can download the latest version of OneDrive sync app via this link: OneDrive release notes (microsoft.com). This helps in case the delays are caused by OneDrive old version.
2. You can also try to Reset OneDrive: Reset OneDrive (microsoft.com).
3. Pausing and Resuming Syncing may also help to solve sync delays: Kindly see: How to Pause and Resume sync in OneDrive (microsoft.com)
4. By going to OneDrive->Setting-> Settings-> Uncheck File On-Demand feature has also worked for some users during sync delays.

Once again, I appreciate your strong effort in finding a quick workaround about your issue. I hope the above can also help in one way or the other.

Hope you have a great day, and stay safe!

Sincerely,

Edwine | Microsoft Community Moderator

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Answer 2

OK haha very funny. The solution (for me) was fairly simple: just download the file from OneDrive in your browser.

If you do that Windows will lock up for ~1min and when it unfreezes, the download will be finished and OneDrive will finally show the file as being synced on the local computer. Then you just delete the download.

So amazing and easy. What fantastic software engineering