OneDrive for Mac: different accounts with different preferences on same Mac?

Question

Are the preference settings for OneDrive for MacOS stored separately for each user account (can be multiple user accounts on the same Mac) or instead stored for with the app (so are the same regardless of which user account is logged on)?

Here's why I need this information:

I have hundreds of GB of data stored in an external drive on my Mac Mini M4. Since Apple introduced File Provider in the macOS, data available to any synchronization service, including OneDrive, actually is stored within the library for the user account. Normal user accounts have data on the internal drive, so even data that appears to be on an external drive actually is stored in the internal one.

This creates a problem: the maximum internal storage available on the Mac Mini M4 is 512 GB, and that space also stores all apps and app related data. As a result, there is insufficient space to store all OneDrive data locally, even though OneDrive provides an option to do so. This, in turn, means that I cannot back up data locally and that I cannot access OneDrive data if off-line.

However, if OneDrive preferences are stored separately for each user account, I could have a second user account with the home directory on a large external drive which would allow local storage of all OneDrive data. This will allow local backups as well as off-line access by switching between the two accounts as needed. (Note that the OneDrive preference settings for my main user account would have the "Download files as you use them" setting (and data would be downloaded as needed on my internal storage), while the second user account would have its home drive located on my external drive, which mean that the location of the data set to my external drive and would have the "Download all OneDrive files now" setting.)

Thanks in advance for any information on this!

Answer 1

Hi @Bill H

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Based on the information you described, I understand that you are facing storage limitations on your Mac Mini M4 due to the way macOS File Provider forces OneDrive data to reside on the internal drive. You want to know if OneDrive settings are unique to each macOS user account so that you can create a secondary account on an external drive to offload the full data download.

Based on my research, here are the details regarding how OneDrive handles preferences on macOS:

OneDrive preference settings on macOS are stored separately for each user account, rather than globally for the app. They are typically located in the user's library, such as: ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.

This means that each macOS user account maintains a completely independent OneDrive configuration.

Your proposed setup with a second user account (home on external drive, full local sync) should work without affecting the preferences or behavior in your main account (internal drive, on-demand downloads). Note that you'll need to sign in to the same Microsoft account on both macOS users to access the same OneDrive content, but the local sync handling will remain isolated per user.

I hope this information helps.

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Answer 2

The preference settings for OneDrive for macOS are stored separately for each user account. This means that if you have multiple user accounts on the same Mac, each account can have its own distinct OneDrive preferences. This setup allows you to configure different settings for OneDrive based on the specific needs of each user account, including where the OneDrive data is stored and how it is synchronized.

In your case, you can create a second user account with its home directory on a large external drive. This would enable you to set the OneDrive preferences for that account to download all files now, while keeping your main account set to download files as you use them. This way, you can manage your storage effectively across both accounts.

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References:

• Deploy and configure the OneDrive sync app for Mac
• Manage OneDrive settings on macOS using property list files