Recent items list includes duplicate files

Question

Greetings, all.

Wondering if anyone has a solution to this problem (admittedly a first-world sort of problem). Technically not a OneDrive problem, but caused by OneDrive.

My computer automatically backs up all my documents to OneDrive. Great... I love this functionality.

Except, when I am browsing recent documents to attach to emails and such, every document comes up TWICE: one iteration from my drive, and the other the backed up copy on OneDrive.

Is there a way to suppress the OneDrive copies from this recent document list?

Thanks, in advance, for your help!

Answer 1

Hi DrDaz, First of all as Palcouk says OneDrive is NOT a backup. Two may users on this forum have found out to the despair.

Just for clarification>If you go to C:\Users\UserName you will see the OneDrive (blue) folder. Everything not in the OneDrive folder is on OneDrive everything else is on C:\Drive. Maybe that is how you have 'duplicate' files, that is your files are on OneDrive and on C:\Drive.

Answer 2

Hi DrDAS,

Just a reminder that there is no way for us to have one copy of the files if you will not disconnect the one drive login on the device. You need to choose which drive you want to save the file. You may ask first an assistance from the company IT of yours for them to provide you an alternative option to this case.

If you would like to submit feedback, comment, or suggestion, you can certainly send it to Microsoft through the feedback hub.
https://support.microsoft.com/help/f59187f8-8739-22d6-ba93-f66612949332

I hope this information helps. If you have any questions, please let me know and I’ll be glad to assist you further.

Best regards,
Jung

Answer 3

Palcouk:

This is a company computer, and it is using OneDrive as a backup. I am aware that I do not need to save things locally, though that is my preference. If I do, I assure you it creates an identical file online that I can access from elsewhere.

Jung:

Thanks for your reply.

No one else is editing these documents. It is only me; but OneDrive is set to "auto-sync" documents in common locations, including the documents folder. As an example; there are documents on my desktop that sync to a location online (at least that is how it is set up).

As an example, if I send an email right now and click on "Attach file", the first two items under recent items are identically named; one is on my C-drive, the other is on my OneDrive. If I choose the C drive option, the file attaches immediately; if I choose the OneDrive option, it "downloads" first and then attaches it.

If I remove the credential you mention, will that stop it from automatically backing up (as I have described above)? I'm not sure the company would favor that solution.

DAS

Answer 4

Hi DrDAS,

I’m Jung one of the Independent Advisor and I’d be happy to help you out with your question.

The reason why OneDrive for business creates duplicate files is that a conflict exists when the file has been updated by more than one person who both have contribution permissions in different locations. The OneDrive server can’t merge both versions of the file due to this and ends up creating a series of duplicate files. As briefly mentioned previously, this can be extremely frustrating for users who have limited storage space on their computer drives to begin with. Having a duplicate for every file means that it requires double the storage space. Although you can manually delete these duplicate files, there is a simple way to prevent these files from duplicating. Below is an easy to follow guide with screenshots on how to prevent OneDrive from duplicating files when syncing.

Step by step process to refresh credentials:
Go to the start menu

From the bottom of your computer, slick on the windows icon to access the start menu.

Search ‘Credential Manager’

In the search bar, type in ‘Credential Manager’. When the Credential Manager option appears, click on it.

Select ‘Windows Credentials’

When the new window appears, click on ‘Windows Credentials’

Click on ‘OneDrive Cached Credential Business’

Under the section for Generic Credentials, click on the arrow facing down for ‘OneDrive Cached Credential Business’. This will open up more information about your OneDrive credentials.

Click ‘Remove’

At the bottom of the section, click on the option to ‘Remove’. This will delete the credentials for your OneDrive and will prevent the OneDriver server from creating duplicate files. Please ensure that you restart OneDrive to allow the system to process the changes made.

I hope this information helps. If you have any questions, please let me know and I’ll be glad to assist you further.

Best regards,
Jung

Answer 5

OneDrive is not a backup

Are the paths shown identical?

The backup option in OneDrive settings is a completely separate process

What else did you do after installing Office 365 with OneDrive settings/options?