Learn How OneDrive Sync Works With Office 2016

For years, you have been able to sync your OneDrive (and SharePoint) documents to your PC, which lets you work on the go while still being able to collaborate with others in Office. This integration was powered by the previous generation OneDrive for Business sync client (groove.exe), and we've been working hard to fix issues and improve reliability so the experience is as smooth as possible. With the release of the latest OneDrive sync client (which we refer to as the Next Gen Sync Client or NGSC, we saw an opportunity make the Office sync experience better than ever.

We've now delivered a new integration which combines the rock-solid performance and reliability of OneDrive with the advanced collaboration features of Office 2016. Here's a summary of how the latest OneDrive sync works differently from both competitors and from our previous sync client (groove.exe):

Office files always open from the locally synced file first

If a document is synced to your machine, Office will never wait to open the server copy. Office opens the locally synced file immediately, and if there are any changes on the server, Office will download those asynchronously. This allows you to open under any network conditions without waiting and is a big advantage over other sync and share services. Due to the partnership between OneDrive and Office, it doesn't matter if the file was opened from Recent Files, File Explorer, clicking a URL, etc. If the file is synced to the device, the synced file opens first.

Office files always save to the locally synced file first

Similar to how Office opens files, saves start with the locally synced file. After the file saves, Office will upload changes directly to the server. If Office can't upload because the device is offline, you can keep working offline or close the file. Office will continue to save to the locally synced file, and OneDrive will handle the upload once the device gets back online. In this integration, Office works directly with the files that are currently open, enabling co-authoring in Office apps like Word on the desktop, which no competitor offers. For files that are not open in Office, OneDrive handles all syncing. This is the key difference between the old sync client integration and the NGSC, and this lets us achieve co-authoring along with the best  performance and sync reliability.

Office uploads are efficient

Since the release of Office 2010, files are uploaded to  OneDrive via the MS-FSSHTTP protocol. This lets Office avoid uploading the entire file on every save if only a small part has changed. For example, if a PowerPoint presentation has a large video in it, that video won’t be re-uploaded on each save. It is much more efficient than a full file upload, and it again speaks to the tight interoperability between Office and OneDrive.  

Conflict Resolution

Some conflicts are unavoidable, and OneDrive gives you control over how these conflicts get resolved. If Office 2016 is not installed, OneDrive will create a second file with the user’s conflicting copy after detecting a conflict. If Office 2016 is installed, users have the option to “Open in Office” to resolve the conflict. This will either automatically merge the conflicting copies or show a merge experience that lets users pick the right version of each conflicting change. Users can choose to duplicate the file instead, or they can disable the “Open in Office” option entirely in the OneDrive settings.

Summary

Office 2016 and OneDrive work seamlessly together to keep your files in sync while letting you easily collaborate on your documents and share them with others. This integration provides dramatically improved performance and reliability without sacrificing advanced collaboration features like real-time co-authoring. Now you have a single tool to sync all your OneDrive and SharePoint Online content with the best integration with Office, great performance, and rock-solid sync.

Availability

Office integration with the OneDrive Next Generation Sync Client is available now for all Windows releases of Office 2016, and it works for all modern Office document formats (docx, xlsx, pptx, etc) synced by the Next Gen Sync Client. We’re also working to bring this experience to Office 2016 for Mac, though we don’t have a release date to share at this time.

Office integration with NGSC Teamsite sync requires click-to-run build 16.0.7167.2001+ or MSI build 16.0.4432.1000+

Eric O'Brien- Program Manager- OneDrive