Forum Discussion
MacOS Monterey - Disable Files on Demand
- That sounds strange. I would expect it to be one or the other as you say. On my own Mac running Monterey I cannot duplicate your issue. As you say, you can't disable FOD from the OneDrive client settings but you should be able to do this with a PList as per https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/onedrive/deploy-and-configure-on-macos#filesondemandenabled
- This is almost assuredly a Microsoft issue. Apple wouldn't care how MS uses its cloud system.
- Maybe an issue with Monterey + M1 machines, there is a separate version of Onedrive. I'm only having the problem with my M1 machine, not my Intel machine.
I agree this is caused by Microsoft and not Apple. On my second Macbook (a new Air), OneDrive has not changed. It shows OneDrive version 21.220.1024.0555. On my Pro, which is having these new problems, the version is 22.007.0109.0002.
Luckily I had not used the Air for a few days. I have disabled auto updates on it and will hustle it back and forth to work until (I hope) this is resolved by Microsoft.
And, the older OneDrive has a button to turn on Files on Demand, at the preferences. The 2022 version removes this option. I am working with a MS tech person who said he is going to research a resolution. If I get one, I will share it.
- Looks like this announcement may be related?
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/25/macos-12-3-cloud-storage-changes/- They seem to be the same issue. One comment on the MacRumors article mentioned the loss of native Mac features with the move to Files on Demand as the default setting, which includes valuable features like Quick Look and Spotlight. Spotlight's accuracy and speed are massively helpful for me. They don't work, obviously, if all of your files are online and downloaded only on demand. Seems to be that some of the blame is on Apple and on Microsoft. Two of the biggest developers out there can't update something without breaking what already works. (Sorry, venting.)
This problem completely killed me, literally killed me. Thanks to Microsoft and One Drive super uber developers and testers. I had a perfect life before this Files on Demand feature.
I even cannot see what's happening behind the scenes. Many files are downloading uploading etc. My available hard disk size is changing between 150GB to 70GB it is not stable.
Tomorrow I have to work and I don't know what to do. Probably I will download very important folders manually and I will delete this stupid version and wait for a proper fix.
This version created a very very bad problems. In the future, synching files will be a pain and I have to do it manually.- They keep on F#@king up a decent system. Files on Demand shouldn't be the default, and there certainly should be an option to toggle off of that in preferences.
- I just gave up, I need files on my laptop because sometimes I'm off the grid or in the air, I just can't trust MS, I just canceled onedrive and moved to iCloud.
I can't have only on demand as sometimes I am with slow internet connection. Is the only option leaving One Drive and moving to Drop Box or iCloud? Is there any real option of disabling One Drive files on demand?
