OneDrive Shared Files no longer show up as local folders

Question

Until recently, like the last week, I could on OneDrive online and "add shortcut to my files". Then, it would show up on my PC as a local folder. Now, it only shows up as a shortcut and forces me to open it online. This is a step back in functionality and convenience. I share files with several users, and the drag-and-drop capability is now gone. I hope this is fixed soon. I have tried this on many different PCs and restarted OneDrive Sync, but the usual fixes are not working. Yes, I rebooted several PC's as well. Is this functionality now gone?

Answer 1

This is a global flaw that has been reported for weeks and until now Microsoft has not officially acknowledged the problem and gone public with its retraction. It is no longer possible to synchronize shared folders on Onedrive in Windows Explorer. They show as a shortcut to the internet. In other words, clicking on the folder will not open the files directly, but will instead take you to Onedrive online in the browser. This flaw is impacting thousands of offices that mainly use the "Microsoft Family" or "Personal" license to share files between employees . Because now they can only work 100% through the browser, which completely reduces productivity. And it's not just this problem that was found, Microsoft's services and websites are crashing all the time, several bugs in the processing of files directly in Onedrive were also found, but the worst thing is that Microsoft hasn't fixed this yet.

Answer 2

Hi @Eben Darling,

No, I didn't hear any update about this functionality and as per my test, it works normally in my environment. As you said, it should save a copy of the file/folder you add shortcut locally on the PC. I believe there may be something wrong in the backend. I found a thread who has similar issue to yours: Shared file shortcuts are not showing up on OneDrive Desktop App. In this case, this issue suddenly disappeared automatically after trying several times disconnecting and reconnecting account to OneDrive. I suggest you create a service request to Microsoft in Microsoft 365 admin center. Microsoft experts can have a remote session with you and help you check from the backend.

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Answer 3

I have the same issue in my home. Usually when I add shortcuts to my files of a shared folder, it becomes a internet shortcut in the local folder. And the shortcut forces me to open the file online.

I'm disappointed from this.

Answer 4

Seems loads of people are having this issue.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/mac-onedrive-app-shared-folders-dont-appear-in/a9e0ef94-63a6-4522-94a2-9cac9fffd111?page=6

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/i-cant-sync-or-download-a-shared-folder-in/d6ca1a28-386e-4d6f-b5ed-1b1a4952325e

Not seen any feedback from MS and its been weeks

Answer 5

I have the same issue!

Furthermore, a strange thing happens: in my home I added two shared folders (one per account) but only one still works in the old way (while the others lead to the web) the only feature that made it worth switching to family was just this (for me) I hope it can be resolved as soon as possible!!