android & onedrive: sync a local folder

Question

how can I sync a local folder on an android device with onedrive? or is it possible to somehow access directly the offline folders from onedrive?

background: I have a program on my pc, that is using a folder for saving analysis files, which I want to access from an app too. both side should do changes on the files (2way sync).

on the pc, there is no problem doing this with onedrive sync, by having this folder in my documents located. on android on the other hand, i dont find this functionality or the location of the offline folder. with other cloud solutions i can do this (like dropbox), or special sync apps (like onesync).

i found other user questions here, asking for years the same. is there any reason from microsoft refusing to realize this useful function?

thnx

Answer 1

Hi, thanks for the very polite answer. Unfortunately it doesn't help, like polite answers usually do 😉.

The advice of contacting the development team will lead to nothing, as it always did in the past. As I wrote, this request for improvement is already years old and has so far run into the void. so further inquiries will be just as successful as long as this is denied from microsoft internally for some reasons (the other possibility would be that the feedbacks have never been read for years, but thats impossible).

that's why i thought it would be a better idea to ask for the reason before i turn away from microsoft too, as others did.

some examples on this platform:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/folder-location-to-access-onedrive-offline-files/837b8ded-29db-4116-9806-a8b68492786e

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/onedrive-on-android-sd-card-folder-syncing/d31f93b5-b64d-40ab-978d-5bc921dc8ab1 aso.

with regard

ft

Answer 2

I have to agree with the other commenters here. This kind of functionality seems not only trivial to implement, but also comes across as negligent on the side of Microsoft. I mean I got the 1 TB storage option along with the other MS office products on a monthly subscription because I like Microsoft and I wanted to use their tools over other options because I thought the integration would be more seamless, but honestly with this kind of feature missing from a product I pay for monthly, I feel like it's an insult to my support as a customer. If the devs at Microsoft are having a hard time implementing it, then please contact me or let me know, so that I can then take it upon myself to build it out, free of charge, so long as MS attributes the feature to having been built by a customer because their OneDrive dev team lacked the ability to do so for a number of years.

If anyone on the dev team (if this ever reaches them), takes offence to this, then I'm not sorry, because this should be considered a basic must have feature, especially since it's present on the desktop version of the app. What's the point of having features on one platform that don't exist on another, given that there's no physical limitation of the device that would prevent the feature from existing? It's not an over sight, it's a blatant disregard for the very essence of what software development is about, and why we developers get so passionate about our jobs, because we're not supposed to just be churning the machine to print more money, we're supposed to be solving problems in the world and making the lives of our end users simpler by using that creative side of our minds to realize those solutions in a way that might make you or the user feel a sense of aw at how simple their task has become thanks to the software/machine they're using has made it.

It's the small considerations like this that, when left unconsidered, fill me with a sense of shame and disgrace for even calling myself a developer in the first place because of the utter lack of thought and consistency that is glaring in this situation.

Answer 3

Hi Waqas,

What's the point in being a "Microsoft Agent" and "Moderator" if you guys don't pass anything back to Microsoft. There's so many posts where the MS Agents say "Just submit this as feedback" - these people have provided feedback on this forum, and as a representative of Microsoft, you saw it, so the feedback has made it to where it needs to go...

You go onto the feedback hub because you think "fine, I'll satisfy your absurd bureaucratic demands" only to find there's already 5 requests submitted for this in different words - the request for a local folder sync on android is years old - why it needs to be a request I'm not sure, because a cloud storage service by nature should allow you to access cloud storage... this isn't feedback, it's basic functionality... I don't send feedback to my phone manufacturer that I need my phone to act as a phone, it's implied....

This is basic functionality for Apple....

-Alex

Answer 4

Dear respected ft_apn,

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

As per your description, I'm sorry and I'm afraid unfortunately there is no direct way to sync a local folder on an android device with OneDrive application. However, you sync your folder into OneDrive cloud first on your pc/machine and then you can go to OneDrive app on your android device and access the folder.

Also, in OneDrive for android device, you can mark folders "offline" via tap "Keep offline" option **** to read them anytime and Offline edits made sync to your Android device connects to the Web.

For your reference: Read files or folders offline in OneDrive for Android

We feel your pain due to this limitation and we’re really feel sorry for it. Personally, I completely agree with you, this is indeed a good addition and regarding to your concern, I request you, please send/provided feedback to related OneDrive development team via Microsoft OneDrive feedbackportal(select Android device platform and click on Send feedback button) so that they can get notice about it, Microsoft product developers team monitor this site 24/7 and they will receive your request and put it into consideration. This is the best platform to let related team hear from you and make the products and services better for you and others.

We can expect this feature to be used in the future in OneDrive app for android device.

Appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Waqas Muhammad

Answer 5

It's not a "feature" though is it, providing access to cloud documents should be a core functionality... this is like asking devs to add multiplication to calculators, it should be there already