Sharepoint Sync - different folder names on different computers

Question

Hi there, I'm trying to enable macros for my colleagues through SharePoint. Because Office in web browser is not supporting macros, we have synced files from SharePoint to be available in Windows file explorer and are saving macros to separate macro-enabled spreadsheets. Weirdly enough, on different computers there are different paths for the same files. For example on one computer the path starts from:

C:\Users<username><server_name>\Documents\General...

while on another one it's like this:

C:\Users<username><server_name>\General...

This is not allowing to use file path names in macros as they will work only for the lucky ones who happen to have the same name structure as the one who's written the code. How can we unify this so everyone would have exactly the same file paths (apart from username of course which is not a problem)?

Answer 1

Hi DanTopline：

When you sync your OneDrive library, your files are placed in a folder named “OneDrive @CompanyName” if the library is hosted on SharePoint in Microsoft 365, and “OneDrive” if the library is hosted on a corporate SharePoint server. If you sync libraries on other sites, OneDrive creates folders for them using their library names, and places these folders in a folder name “SharePoint.”

According to this official documentation, I think the different path names you appear should be random, I apologize for the inconvenience caused by this issue. I think the most effective way is to manually change the path of the folder to make it uniform. Change the location where you sync SharePoint libraries on your computer (microsoft.com)

Hope this will help you.

Tin

Answer 2

Hi Tin,

We all use Office365, currently we have OneDrive version 2022 build 22.089.0426.0003. This updates automatically to the same version on each device. Sync is performed to default location and the main folder is always in the same place. The problem is this small difference:

C:\Users<username><OneDrive_name>\Site Name- Documents\General**...

C:\Users<username><OneDrive_name>\Site Name- General**...

For different computers it randomly (or maybe there is some logic in it?) generates one or the other file structure. All the rest remains the same, everything is accessible, just the main folder structure is different.

Answer 3

Hi DanTopline：

You are welcome to post in our forum.

According to your description, we understand that after you use OneDrive to synchronize SharePoint libraries, the paths of users are not consistent. Thus affecting the use of VBA.

I think the most important thing at the moment is to make the user's sync path confirmation consistent. By default, Microsoft OneDrive for work or school syncs SharePoint in Microsoft 365 libraries in folders under your Windows “User” folder, for example: C:\Users*username.* You can first try to have all users manually choose where to sync and see if the paths are uniform：Change the location where you sync SharePoint libraries on your computer (microsoft.com)

At the same time, according to my test, open the SharePoint web page, enter the library, click the sync button, the default path should be C:\Users<username><OneDrive_name>\Site Names-Library names... So I would also like to know if all your users do the same thing, do they click on a special folder：

At the same time, since this operation will use OneDrive, I would like to know if the OneDrive in your user device is all the same version.

Hope the above information will help you. If there is any progress on this thread, you are welcome to discuss with us at any time, and I will do my best to help you.

Finally wish you all the best😊

Tin