MacOS Monterey - Disable Files on Demand

I am also affected by this and, as such decided to investigate what was happening. I don't think you will like what I'm about to tell you…

Apparently, Microsoft is now making use of a new framework by Apple, which works almost exactly like iCloud Drive, except instead of storing your stuff in /Users/[your account]/Library/Mobile Documents, it stores it in /Users/[your account]/Library/CloudStorage.

But not really, that's just where the “file system” is stored, and it works more like a bunch of hard/symlinks than anything else; the actual files (those which you decided to store locally, that is, but mine were fortunately still there, though I was afraid they might be gone, because in their “proper” location they all seemed to be available only on the cloud!) are still stored locally in the folder of your choice, except instead of getting a true folder, you get an alias, and the actual folder is now hidden and called “.ODContainer-OneDrive” (or “.ODContainer-OneDrive-[the name of your content provider” in case you have more than one account connected at the same time; in my case, that would be my University's SharePoint account).

Here's the thing: this is a total mess, because you never get direct access even to those files set to be always available, i.e. you can't perform QuickLook actions on them. And, I'm guessing, they weren't being properly indexed by Spotlight, as you pointed out. For advanced users, this is completely unacceptable. Yes, some people will enjoy using OneDrive as a convenient cloud-based “locker”, but many others really do need a multi-device, always available offline sync and backup solution, which allows their file structure to behave as a first-class citizen at all times.

So, for me, even if I did enjoy separating my files across different volumes, some in a OneDrive account and others in a Google Drive drive one, I just can't work with this anymore. To add insult to injury, even though those never synced across devices in the first place, all my custom icons and tags stopped displaying properly with this update (though, funnily and happily enough – as you will see in just a bit –, they were preserved in the .ODContainer-OneDrive folders), and my direct aliases (on the Dock and elsewhere) to folders inside of OneDrive stopped working altogether. Surely they could've come up with a migration tool which kept these aliases working, am I right? To launch such a destructive update is just amateurish, IMHO.

But really, that's not even the worst part. That Microsoft thought changing the entire working model of their OneDrive solution without prior notice was just fine and dandy, instead of doing it properly (if not that elegantly, of course) like Google did, with their successive Google Drive –> Google Backup and Sync –> Google Drive transitions and lots of advance warnings about support cut-off dates, is downright insulting. Yes, in the long run, I could accept the added opacity in the Finder, sure, but doing it like this makes it extra unacceptable, as it effectively constitutes a breach of confidence on a tool supposedly geared towards productivity. Well, these shenanigans really messed up with my productivity, and will keep having repercussions in the coming days (I don't even know if I have enough free space on my laptop to emulate the file structure I have on this Mac, for instance, and will likely be forced to anticipate by several months – and at a terrible time both financially and logistically, no less – an SSD upgrade I was mulling over), so… yeah, not very Microsoft-y of you, Microsoft.

So… do you want to know how I fixed this? Easy:

1. I quit all instances of OneDrive;

2. With the Finder active, I pressed Command+Shift+. (that is a period, yes), to make hidden files and folders temporarily visible;

3. I renamed said “.ODContainer-OneDrive” folders and removed the dot, thus making them visible;

4. I dragged the entire contents of my OneDrive folders (both of them; it's basically dead to me, and I'll only use it if someone specifically asks me to share folders through either of my accounts) into… my Google Drive folder.

5. ????

6. PROFIT!!! (because my Uni fees/scholarship cover both Office365 and GSuite subscriptions, and while the former only gives us 1 TB of free cloud storage, the latter is unlimited).

To the guys at Microsoft: sorry! It was good while it lasted, and I very much enjoyed auto-saving and one-click access to versioning when working in Word documents… But I'm more of an iWork and LibreOffice guy these days, and I always keep Time Machine backups anyway. I don't need your wares that much anymore, and your service is most definitely not dependable. Also, I will not be missing its ridiculous character set limitations (as a matter of fact, I shall be renaming a few of my files with lots of hash and pipe signs, and spaces at the end, as a way of celebration).

I have a 2020 mac mini that I recently updated OneDrive on and also ran in to this issue. I use CloudBerry to back up my OneDrive folder so it's very useful to be able to disable files on demand.
I did find the option to right click on the top level folder and select always keep on this device, but that didn't seem to work as expected.
My silly solution is to first set the top level folder to always keep on this device and to then run a recursive md5 check sum on every file in the OneDrive folder.

find . -type f -exec md5 '{}' \;

After the md5 check sum finished each file no longer showed the cloud icon and only showed the always available on this device icon.  I was also then able to successfully run a backup of the folder.

This isn't my favorite solution, but it seems to be working.  I though others mind find this useful.

BTW my 2015 mac book pro hasn't gotten the most recent update to OneDrive that changed the behavior of disabling files on demand.

pdteo Adding my voice to this. Running macOS Monterey, and OneDrive version 22.012 (Standalone)

Experiencing the same exact frustrations as everyone.

I found this:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-onedrive-blog/inside-the-new-files-on-demand-experience-on-macos/ba-p/3058922

It is from January 12, 2022 but references plans back to June.  It appears this is all intentional by MS.  It says:

macOS 12.2 will be the last version that supports the classic Files On-Demand experience. For future macOS versions, this means:

• Files On-Demand will default to on for all users and cannot be disabled.
• Devices will migrate automatically to the new Files On-Demand as soon as they receive a macOS update. You cannot delay this update without also delaying an update to macOS.
• Both our Standalone and App Store versions of OneDrive will have the same behavior.
• Users running a developer or beta version of macOS will have the same experience as a release version of macOS.

It is not a quirk or programming oversight.  It is the way they want it.  But, is it MS being difficult or Apple not allowing freer access for companies to create apps for Macs?

The MS tech helper I am working with told me to use SharePoint.  However, I learned that SharePoint's access to files is via OneDrive.  Therefore, the files still are not on your computer.  

I conclude the only answer is to fine a new cloud storage program.  Or buy a PC?

Well this is a complete sh!t-sh0w. I had all my files wiped today, thanks Apple and Microsoft for such a great solution </sarcasm>.

find . -type f -exec head -c 1 {} \;

I set my folders to be "Always available on this device" and forced the sync using the above. This is faster than md5 because it only reads the first byte from every file. That is enough to trigger the sync. MD5 checksum requires all bytes in the file to be downloaded first, and then needs CPU time to compute the checksum.

Same problem for me.  I cannot imagine why this was changed by Apple.  I have found when I look at the OneDrive icon in the top toolbar, it shows a files as being synced/downloaded. But it is not in the spot in OneDrive where it should be.  Also, when you click the OneDrive with down arrow icon and download files, it any file is added by someone who shares the folder, the icon reverts to undownloaded.  Then you have to redo the download.

MS tech's only solution was to use Sharepoint.  If you have done so and it works, please let me know.  Thanks.

pdteo