How to stop a Sharepoint library syncing down to PC via OneDrive

[Ian Hill]

I am using Windows 7 with the OneDrive client (17.3.6799.0327) and Office365 E3 service. A colleague has shared a single O365 SharePoint Online folder with me. I clicked the sync button in my web portal to Sharepoint Online. His whole SharePoint Online library then synced down to my hard drive (not just the folder I requested). So I now have masses of his files replicated on my hard drive. I want to safely get rid of them (and the risk of accidentally deleting any) and stop syncing his library, but without deleting the files in his library. However: 1. OneDrive only lists my OneDrive folders, not the folders in his SharePoint Online library, so there’s no place to selectively cease syncing his library. 2. O365 Sharepoint Online appears to have no “de-sync” option as the inverse of its “sync” button. In short, having synced his library, I can see no way of reversing that situation without unlinking my computer from my normal OneDrive folders….. Do you have any suggestions for achieving the desired outcome (stopping sync without stopping normal OneDrive syncing) please?

[#2]

Right clikc on the Onedrive in your windows Explorer and then Choose OneDrive folders to sync.

[#3]

Thanks Pieter, but I don't see those menu options. This is what I see:

I am wondering whether I've been caught in the midst of incompatible Sharepoint Online/Win7/OneDrive versions....!

[#4]

Right click the blue cloud icon in the icon tray and go to Settings->Account. There you can stop syncing a whole library.

BTW, If you can sync the whole library, it means that you have access to the whole library: you cannot sync anything that you have not access to. Has your colleague shared more than he wanted?

[#5]

Although I could do that Salvatore, it would also stop syncing on my onedrive for business cloud store, because the blue cloud represents both the SharePoint sync and my work OneDrive store. I want to kept OneDrive sync but stop the SharePoint Online sync.

Frustrating! :grimacing_face:

[#6]

It looks like you are using the old onedrive client "groove.exe" not the next gen one drive client "onedrive.exe"

Here is a guide on setting it up:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Get-started-with-the-new-OneDrive-sync-client-in-Windows-61...

Additionally for the SharePoint side you need to enable this in the admin portal, see this guide:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Enable-users-to-sync-SharePoint-files-with-the-new-OneDrive...

[#7 · Accepted solution]

@Ian Hill

I think there is a little confusion here...

To be clear:

• First of all, it is necessary to understand if you are running the new client (NGSC) or the old client (Groove). So please see https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Which-version-of-OneDrive-am-I-using-19246eae-8a51-490a-8d9...
• If you are still running the old client (Groove), then the first thing to do is to get rid of it. See https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Transition-from-the-previous-OneDrive-for-Business-sync-cli...
• If instead you are running the new client (NGSC), then you can stop selectively the syncing of single SharePoint libraries, without affecting the syncing of your ODfB library. See https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Sync-SharePoint-files-with-the-new-OneDrive-sync-client-6de...

Hope it helps...

[#8]

Both groove and the new OneDrive were running simultaneously :\ That has probably not helped!

My  work laptop is being upgraded to Win10 today, so on Monday it will be interesting to see if my OneDrive isues are different. 

Thanks everyone for the helpful feedback. I will report back in a few days.

ian

[#9]

A MS page states that "If your organization is currently syncing SharePoint Online document libraries using the previous OneDrive for Business sync client (Groove.exe), the new OneDrive sync client will automatically take over syncing those libraries when users set up a new site or sign in to the client for the first time".

However, that was not my experience. I think the old Groove was still running in the background and getting in the way of OneDrive.exe. Once Win10 was refreshed onto my hard disk, I had the same version of OneDrive as I had before, (but no groove.exe) and everything now seems to work smoothly and as I originally assumed it should.

Salvatore's advice to get rid of the old Groove.exe was the answer.