Forum Discussion
Files On-Demand for macOS QA
I have run some tests. As I understand reading what Jack_Nichols has written in the post explaining everything, the Files on-demand experience used now in OneDrive uses Apple’s File Provider platform, a new api offered by the OS that is replacing an older kernel extension that OneDrive was previously using. Isn't this the same api used by iCloud Drive to maintain the syncing of its contents on macOS with the cloud? Then why does iCloud Drive offer a seamless experience and isn't affecting the indexing of the Spotlight search service on macOS for files stored on it from other devices?
This just looks to me like a very poor implementation of the solution by Microsoft.
Just run a short test if you want to try this:
- Create any text document on iPhone and save it to iCloud Drive (a Word document works fine).
- After this go to the Mac and use Spotlight to search for a word inside that document. As you can see Spotlight shows you the created document on the results. It is not only indexing the document by filename without any problems but also its contents.
Try to do the same with OneDrive and the process fails miserably.
I have set the whole OneDrive folder to Always keep on this device. If all the files are already been downloaded to a cache, why isn't OneDrive just transferring them to the OneDrive root folder automatically so Spotlight can index them properly? The files are clearly in the local disk already, this is easy to see disconnecting the Mac from the network and opening any of the files marked with the cloud icon. This will be the solution to the majority of the problems described on this thread: Indexing of file contents by Spotlight, Quicklook and letting backup programs do their work on the local OneDrive folder.