SharePoint Online Office for business

The following steps will ensure you can sync with your Microsoft SharePoint libraries, that you are able to access your files online, and that you have enough room for the right files to sync.

Notes: 

• This article is for users who have an Office 365 work or school account, and refers to the latest version of SharePoint and OneDrive for work or school. If you don’t sign in with an Office 365 account, read how to Fix OneDrive sync problems.
• In the images below, “Contoso” is a fictional name used by Microsoft as an example company. You should see your own organization’s name.

Check that you can access your SharePoint

Sign in to Office 365 with your work or school account.

Browse to your SharePoint in Microsoft 365 location.

Select the Document folder or Library that you are trying to sync.

If you don’t see the sync option, or you see a screen that says “Which library do you want to sync?” then the site has not been configured for syncing, and you should contact the site owner.

Note: Page or site owners can edit via Library settings > Advanced settings > Offline Client Availability.

If you cannot access your SharePoint, contact the site owner or your Network Administrator

Update to the latest version of OneDrive

OneDrive and Windows are frequently updated and keeping your PC up-to-date can help SharePoint sync problems.

Download the latest Windows updates to get the most out of SharePoint in Microsoft 365. The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update enable Files On Demand which can help resolve sync problems. Learn more about OneDrive Files On-Demand.

Download the latest version of OneDrive and install it. Notes: 

If you already have the latest version, the installer setup will end automatically.

For more information on the latest version, read the release notes.

Press   , search for OneDrive and then open the OneDrive desktop app. Note: If shown, do not select “OneDrive for work or school” as that may be an older version still installed.

When OneDrive Setup starts, enter your SharePoint work or school account, and then select Sign in to set up your account.

Stop syncing and run setup again

You won’t lose files or data by disabling, uninstalling or unlinking OneDrive for work or scon your computer. You can always access your SharePoint by signing in online.

Select the blue OneDrive cloud icon in the notification area, at the far right of the taskbar.

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Note: You might need to click the Show hidden icons arrow next to the notification area to see the OneDrive icon, or click  and start typing “select which icons” to display the notification area settings option, and then show Microsoft OneDrive. If the icon still doesn’t appear in the notification area, OneDrive might not be running. Click   , type OneDrive in the search box, and then click OneDrive (not “OneDrive for work or school” as that may be an older version) in the search results.

Select  Help & Settings > Settings.

Click Stop sync for the location that is not syncing correctly.

Follow the steps to Sync SharePoint files with the new OneDrive sync client.

Unlink OneDrive and run OneDrive setup again

You won’t lose files or SharePoint data by disabling, uninstalling or unlinking OneDrive on your computer. You can always access your files by signing in to your OneDrive for work or school account online.

Select the blue OneDrive cloud icon in the notification area, at the far right of the taskbar.

Note: You might need to click the Show hidden icons arrow next to the notification area to see the OneDrive icon, or click  and start typing “select which icons” to display the notification area settings option, and then show Microsoft OneDrive. If the icon still doesn’t appear in the notification area, OneDrive might not be running. Click   , type OneDrive in the search box, and then click OneDrive (not “OneDrive for work or school” as that may be an older version) in the search results.

Select  Help & Settings, then click Unlink this PC.

Follow the steps in the Welcome to OneDrive wizard to set up OneDrive.

For more information, read how to Sync files with the new OneDrive sync client in Windows.

Move files out of a sync folder

If you are seeing the sync icon stuck for a long period of time, moving some files out of a sync folder can help clear any sync issues.

Select the blue OneDrive cloud icon in the notification area, at the far right of the taskbar.

Note: You might need to click the Show hidden icons arrow next to the notification area to see the OneDrive icon, or click  and start typing “select which icons” to display the notification area settings option, and then show Microsoft OneDrive. If the icon still doesn’t appear in the notification area, OneDrive might not be running. Click   , type OneDrive in the search box, and then click OneDrive (not “OneDrive for work or school” as that may be an older version) in the search results.

Select  Help & Settings > Pause syncing… > 2 hours

Select a file from one of your sync folders and move it to a folder that’s not part of OneDrive, e.g. C:\users\

Select  Help & Settings again and select Resume syncing… 

Once sync is complete, move the file back again.

Make sure the filenames and file types are supported

There are three types of constraint with SharePoint files and filenames:

Make sure that none of the files you want to sync are larger than 15GB. If you see an error message such as “This file is too big to upload” or “Reduce the size of this file to upload to…” try reducing the size of a file by zipping it. You may be able to reduce the file size of a picture.

Make sure the entire file path, including the file name, contains fewer than 400 characters. An example of a file path is: 
C:\Users\<UserName>\Pictures\Saved\2017\December\Holiday\NewYears\Family… 

To resolve this, shorten the name of your file or the name of subfolders in SharePoint, or select a sub-folder that’s closer to the top-level folder.

Make sure that your file doesn’t contain any illegal or characters (such as <, >, :, “, |, ?, *, /, \) or that the folder includes any unsupported file types. Learn more about Restrictions and limitations when you sync files and folders.

Turn off Office Upload

If you’re having trouble syncing Office files, the Office Upload cache system may be interfering with SharePoint sync. Try turning off the related setting in OneDrive settings.

Select the blue OneDrive cloud icon in the notification area, at the far right of the taskbar.

Note: You might need to click the Show hidden icons arrow next to the notification area to see the OneDrive icon, or click  and start typing “select which icons” to display the notification area settings option, and then show Microsoft OneDrive. If the icon still doesn’t appear in the notification area, OneDrive might not be running. Click   , type OneDrive in the search box, and then click OneDrive (not “OneDrive for work or school” as that may be an older version) in the search results.

Select  Help & Settings > Settings.

Select the Office tab and uncheck the Use Office 2016 to sync Office files that I open check box.

Note: When you turn off the Use Office 2016 to sync Office files that I open setting, any changes that you and other people make to Office files in your SharePoint will no longer merge together automatically.

Repair, reinstall or update Office

Repairing or reinstalling Office can sometimes fix sync conflicts between Office and SharePoint. Read how to Download and install or reinstall Office 365 or Office 2016 on a PC or Mac.

Reset OneDrive

Hints and tips

Follow these hints and tips to get the most out of your SharePoint and to make sync as trouble-free as possible.

Only sync what you need

OneDrive Files On-Demand helps you access all your files in OneDrive without having to download all of them and use storage space on your device. Learn more about OneDrive Files On-Demand.

You can also download fewer files by choosing which OneDrive folders to sync to your computer.

Note: You won’t lose files or data by disabling or uninstalling OneDrive on your computer.

Check you’re not syncing too many files

If SharePoint sync seems to be stuck for a long time or the status shows “Processing 0KB of xMB” it could be because you have a lot of files in your SharePoint or a lot of new files to be uploaded. If you have more than 100,000 files, sync can take a long time.

Note: For transferring large files or lots of files, we recommend adding the files to the OneDrive desktop app rather than the using Upload button on the website.

To see how many files you have in your OneDrive folders:

Open File Explorer.

Right-click the OneDrive folder and select Properties.

If the Contains number is more than 100,000 you should consider which OneDrive folders to sync to your computer.

If the sync is already in process, you can Pause and Resume your sync to get things going again.

Select the blue OneDrive cloud icon in the notification area, at the far right of the taskbar.

Note: You might need to click the Show hidden icons arrow next to the notification area to see the OneDrive icon, or click  and start typing “select which icons” to display the notification area settings option, and then show Microsoft OneDrive. If the icon still doesn’t appear in the notification area, OneDrive might not be running. Click   , type OneDrive in the search box, and then click OneDrive (not “OneDrive for work or school” as that may be an older version) in the search results.

Select  Help & Settings > Pause syncing… , and select either 2, 8 or 24 hours.

Select  Help & Settings again and select Resume syncing.