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Chris_Lowth's avatar
Chris_Lowth
Copper Contributor
May 10, 2024

Deleted SharePoint folders keep reappearing

We are having problems with a number of folders in a SharePoint site accessing via a link in OneDrive which seem to have multiple lives. When we delete them from one user's laptop (OneDrive app) or Via the web ui, then other user's laptops recreate the soon after. This happens whether or not there are files in the folders.

I have today had to re-delete 100s of folders. Each time I do, another user's laptop puts them back again. Sometimes the recreated folders are tagged with the user's laptop name as a tag eg: FolderName-ComputerName - I think this is when the original FolderName was already re-created by another user's laptop.


No sync errors are reported on the user's laptops.

There is no "odd" configuration. All the users are "Members" of the site.

We've had this happen for one or two folders in the past but in the last two days it's gone crazy.

Any clues about what's happening and how to stop it?

7 Replies

  • Eugene1011001's avatar
    Eugene1011001
    Copper Contributor

    I know this is an old post, and no real solution to it, so Im posting my similar experience and how I fixed the problem.
    A SharePoint folder restructuring happened at my client, which also resulted in deleted folders reappearing with the folder name and computer name tagged.
    There was a folder (ABC.123) and the client wanted the name to be only (ABC), but instead of renaming the current folder, they created the folder (ABC) and copied the content from (ABC.123) to (ABC). This change synchronized to all users who were online at the time, which is normal behavior.

    Somewhere between copying the data they realized it took too long and it would be much easier to just rename the folder (ABC.123) to (ABC), so they cancelled the copy mid operation.
    The folder (ABC) was deleted, and the folder (ABC.123) was renamed to (ABC). For users who were online at the time, this was not a problem and the changes in the folder structure reflected perfectly. It is worth noting that the decision to cancel the copy was taken quite late the afternoon when most of the users were offline.
    When a test user logged on to confirm the changes, all of a sudden there was a new folder called (ABC - computer name1) which contained the data that was in the original (ABC) folder that was previously deleted on SharePoint, as well as (ABC) which contained the data of (ABC.123). When a second and third test user logged on, two more folders were created (ABC - computer name2) and (ABC - computer name3).

    It became evident that there was some sort of sync issue, and I was called to investigate.
    The problem I found was with the renaming of the folders during a time when users were offline.

    When a user who was offline at the time of the change came online, the OneDrive sync app would run and start with the sync instructions.
    The sync instructions were simple
    1. Rename (ABC.123) to (ABC)
    2. Remove the old (ABC) folder

    When the sync app tried to rename (ABC.123) to (ABC), Windows found that there was already a folder called (ABC) in the same location on the uses device, and this is not allowed, so Windows renamed the current (ABC) folder on the users laptop to (ABC - computer name 1).
    Once the folder was renamed, the sync app was able to rename (ABC.123) to (ABC)
    Next instruction was to remove the old (ABC) folder, however this folder does not exist anymore as it was renamed, so the instruction was ignored.

    The sync app would now see that there is a new folder (ABC - computer name 1) on the users computer which is not in SharePoint. Default sync behavior would cause this folder to be copied to SharePoint.

    This repeated on the second and third user devices as well.

    To solve the problem, I deleted the folders (ABC - computer name 1); (ABC - computer name 2) and (ABC - computer name 3) form SharePoint, and renamed the folder on SharePoint from (ABC) to (ABC1).

    So the sync instructions would be
    1. Rename (ABC.123) to (ABC1)
    2. Remove (ABC)

    Got some more test users to logon and no more (ABC - computer name x) folders were created, and the changes on SharePoint reflected on their devices as expected

    Once all users have come online again, and fully synced with SharePoint, can I rename the folder (ABC1) to (ABC) as was intended.

  • Hello,

    This seems to be a Teams site you are working with? Could you upload an image of the channels you have on that site? Then also an image of the folders you are mentioning?
    • Chris_Lowth's avatar
      Chris_Lowth
      Copper Contributor
      Hi.

      No - it's not a teams site. Just a plain old no-frills site used for file sharing. So there are no channels involved. The site has no plugins, apps or automation - it's just an out-of-the-box site connected to each user's OneDrive using the "Add shortcut to oneDrive" feature.

      Sadly, our security policies wont allow me to screenshot our business folders - for obvious reasons.

      But, using dummy names: I can explain how it looks. In our site's Documents root folder, we might have a "Folder1" and "Folder2", each with a selection of subfolders (and some have files, others not).

      When we delete "Folder1", then it re-appears (complete with it's subfolders), and SharePoint's "Created By" gives the name of another member of staff. Other copies like "Folder1-Fred", "Folder1-LAPTOP1" are also in the habit of just appearing (and again: each one is being created by different staff members). The re-created directory tress are usually empty of files (just the directories get created) although in some cases a small number of the original files also reappear.

      This is NOT the result of clicking "restore" in the recycle bin, by the way - the directory is still in there.
      • ArefHalmstrand's avatar
        ArefHalmstrand
        MCT
        I have not seen this type of bug before. Would it be possible/allowed for you to have a MS Teams meeting and share your screen? I could perhaps try to recreate the scenario in my dev environment. It does feel like a unique issue for your tenant, have you made a ticket to MS?