Forum Discussion

Michiel van den Broek's avatar
Michiel van den Broek
Iron Contributor
Sep 22, 2017

Synch files from Onedrive for Business shared with Microsoft Account to PC?

My customer has shared a folder on his OneDrive for Business (O365 Business Premium) with 2 people. They use a Microsoft Account to access the folder. This works. 

 

They want to sync the content of the folder to their PC. This does not work. 

 

Is this correct? Is synchronization not possible when using a (free) Microsoft Account?

 

Bonusinfo: I created a teamsite for this situation. The external users can access the teamsite in the browser with the Microsoft Account (as expected for collaboration with customers). When they click the "sync" button in the documents library nothing happens, allthough their Personal OneDrive Folder is opened in Windows Explorer.

 

Do I need to assign them a paid license (or create a internal user with license) for this to work?

 

  • Hi Michiel,

     

    The users with whom the file has been shared are considered as external users.At the moment OneDrive.exe does not support for external users to sync files using onedrive.exe.

     

    If the end goal is having the files available locally without going to the browser each time,depending on permissions you could try the approach of Map Network Drives to SPO/ODB.

     

    REF:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2616712/how-to-configure-and-to-troubleshoot-mapped-network-drives-that-connec

     

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3125202/restrictions-and-limitations-when-you-sync-files-and-folders

     

    Syncing with an external or guest account

    Synchronizing content using an external or guest user is currently not supported by OneDrive

    • Michiel van den Broek's avatar
      Michiel van den Broek
      Iron Contributor

      Thanks! Good to get it confirmed. I already expected it. Don't like to mix commecial and consumer version to much. So I don't go for the workaround. They're a business... they need to learn that it sometimes costs a bit of money. (and I also expect extra work on my account with the workaround and when that doesn't work al the time)

  • I think the problem you have here is that you are mixing synchronization of ODFB / Consumer OneDrive...while it's true same sync client is used for both, I believe trying to sync ODFB content using a Microsoft account is not supported at this moment. By the way, adding here StephenRice

    • Michiel van den Broek's avatar
      Michiel van den Broek
      Iron Contributor

      Thanks! Allready thought about this, but good to get it confirmed. Personally, I don't like mixing Microsoft Accounts and Work/School accounts where people are working together on a daily basis. Prefer to keep it to situations where someone just needs external access to a teamsite or file.

Resources