Forum Discussion
Files On-Demand for macOS QA
Thank you for the openness on this article https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-onedrive-blog/inside-the-new-files-on-demand-experience-on-macos/bc-p/3066588
The purpose of having OneDrive is to sync across devices and backup.
Since the beginning I chose to have most of my files on my Mac, for several reasons :
- spotlight index (just amazing)
- time machine backup
- other third party backup
- of course direct access even offline (working on the go)
From what I read (see below) files will not be indexed by Spotlight. This is a MAJOR issue, that will cause me to stop using OneDrive and use alternate services. Even if I have elected to have a local copy of the files, which does not make any sense.
Will this work with local file indexing (e.g. Apple's Spotlight)?
Yes. Spotlight indexes everything that is in your sync root, but note that Spotlight will not fetch (or hydrate) files that are dataless. If you are looking for something in Spotlight that could only be read from the full file (such as image EXIF data), only fully hydrated files will be indexed.
Spotlight will not index our cache folder."
Can you please look into that ?
Also the roll-out of the new OneDrive has been a real pain for us. I appreciate the openness but your support staff is clueless, and before doing those changes that go against our wishes, careful consideration and communication would have been appreciated.
- I second that. I love Mac's Spotlight search function and there is no option for me to turn off Files on Demand in the new OneDrive, which is extremely frustrating
- Jack_Nichols
Microsoft
Hi Michael,
> From what I read (see below) files will not be indexed by Spotlight. This is
> a MAJOR issue, that will cause me to stop using OneDrive and use alternate services.
Spotlight will index the content in your sync root (the path in ~/Library/CloudStorage). That will include any file metadata there, along with file content for files available in this path.
As far as getting the file content into the sync root, we're looking at ways to make this experience better, but in the near-term, if you want to force files to be available here, you can click the little "down cloud" icon to initiate a download. This works for folders too. For files that we already have in our cache path, this fetch should happen more or less instantly. Otherwise, we'll download the file from the cloud.
I've also shared the gist of your feedback with the rest of our team so we can think about how to better support this scenario.
Jack- WOW, finally I have my issues solved. I just needed to click the small cloud icon!
Why isn't MS sharing this information more widely??
To be clear, for all readers, here's what I did when I found that all folders were set on 'File on Demand':
1) set the folder you need to have downloaded on 'Always Available' by right-clicking the folder in finder and selecting that option at the lower part of the menu that shows
2) I think this is optional, but I cannot test it without --> run "ls -alR ~/OneDrive" command in Terminal. This forces Mac OS to make the clone file in your root folder.
- You need to find the correct path to your ~/Onedrive folder.
- Go to ~/library/CloudStorage and there you will find your OneDrive and SharePoint folders. At the bottom of Finder, in the Path Bar, right-click the onedrive folder and select the path. That path you use in this command.
- Alternatively, you select 'open path in terminal' and then you run the command "ls -alR"
3) Click the small cloud icons next to the always available icons to force the files to be downloaded (or transferred from the hidden cache)
Now your files are in the Onedrive Root folder, Spotlight Indexing works again and Quick View works.
Jack_Nichols wrote:
As far as getting the file content into the sync root, we're looking at ways to make this experience better, but in the near-term, if you want to force files to be available here, you can click the little "down cloud" icon to initiate a download. This works for folders too. For files that we already have in our cache path, this fetch should happen more or less instantly. Otherwise, we'll download the file from the cloud.This doesn't work.
I've marked the root of my OneDrive folder and all the folders within it as "Always keep on this device". A small checkmark icon appears next to each folder, and the tooltip reads "Always Available On This Device". So far so good. A cloud icon with a down arrow appears next to the checkmark, and the tooltip reads "Not Downloaded". These folders are all in my cache path, so they definitely are downloaded. The tooltip is lying. I click the cloud icon, and it changes to a circular pie-shaped progress circle. I wait. The files presumably "download", but also not really, since they're already downloaded. OneDrive shows no progress during this download, and reports "OneDrive is up to date". The faux "download" finishes and I check the folder contents. Everything is there with checkmark icons. The files are indexable by Spotlight. Quick Look works. The cloud with down arrow icon has vanished. All is right with the world.
BUT
I leave my computer and come back a couple hours later. Some or all of my folders that had "downloaded" have now, somehow, inexplicably, reverted to "Not Downloaded" with the cloud and down arrow icon. No changes to my OneDrive were made during this time. I check the folder contents, and anywhere from a handful to over 50% of the files in the folder are displaying the "Not Downloaded" icon. Quick Look no longer works on these. Spotlight no longer indexes these. The files have, without any interaction on my part, reverted to a dataless state. The files are still in the hidden cache path. I go back to the top level and click the cloud with down arrow again to force the "download" to start. The files are, again, not actually downloaded. They are simply copied from the cache path. The down cloud icons eventually disappear and everything is good again. A few minutes to a few hours later, the the down cloud icons return, and I repeat the process. I've probably clicked the down cloud arrows somewhere around 4,000 times in the last three days. I'm at my wit's end. I've uninstalled and reinstalled OneDrive. I've tried the App Store and Standalone versions. I've used the reset script multiple times. I've even deleted every single file and folder in my OneDrive and re-uploaded all 200,000 files (600GB of data) from a local backup. Nothing has worked. The down cloud icons keep reappearing for NO reason. I've lost countless hours to this. I''m going insane. I just switched from being a lifelong Dropbox user to OneDrive three weeks ago. The first two weeks were great. The last week has been hell and I am deeply regretting my decision.
- Jack_NicholsHi rvisima,
> I leave my computer and come back a couple hours later. Some or all of
> my folders that had "downloaded" have now, somehow, inexplicably, reverted
> to "Not Downloaded" with the cloud and down arrow icon. No changes to
> my OneDrive were made during this time. I check the folder contents, and
> anywhere from a handful to over 50% of the files in the folder are displaying
> the "Not Downloaded" icon.
How large is the home drive on this Mac? Is your OneDrive cache path on an external volume?
From what you described, this sounds like macOS is hitting some of the low disk space triggers I mentioned in the blog, and trying to clean up files as a result. The end result is that some of your files become dataless.
Jack
