Sharepoint/Teams app sync issue

[Caryl]

I have just noticed that some channels within my teams app are not syncing with SharePoint i.e. they appear as folders within SharePoint but do not show as channels within Teams.

Really struggling to try and sort this. I've quit Teams and restarted a number of times, but it makes no difference.  Any suggestions welcome!

[#2]

Hi!

Were these folders created in SharePoint as opposed to being created created in Teams? That is a common cause for this issue. If you create channels in the Teams client they will sync back to SharePoint but if you create folders in SharePoint they will not sync and become Channels in Teams.

This scenario is particularly common if someone has synced the SharePoint library to their local machine and are creating folders there!

Hope that answers your question!

Best, Chris

[#3]

@Christopher Hoard Guilty as charged! I am indeed syncing the folders to File Explorer and created the folders there.  Aargh. No way around this other than to delete from SharePoint and recreate in Teams? There's no issue with uploading documents using File Explorer - only creating new folders?

[#4 · Accepted solution]

Hi Caryl,

That’s correct, move the documents to another folder, remove the folders and recreate as Channels in Teams.

There’s no problem with File uploading using explorer. Would just make sure you create the folder structure in Teams!

Hope I’ve answered your questions!

Best, Chris

[#5]

You have - thanks so much!@Christopher Hoard 

[#6]

If you create a channel with the same name, it should use the existing folder I believe.

[#7]

Yep that works just tested it

@Caryl, @Chris Webb just came up with another option which I have tested and can confirm works. If you create new channels within the team whose name matches that of the folders in SharePoint then they will link up and the files in those folders will be visible in Teams. Of course you may want to sort the folders so still this would involve moving and deleting, but this gives you a few options.

The point about creating channels in Teams to get the Folder structure in SharePoint would still apply :D

Best, Chris

[#8]

@Christopher Hoard @Chris Webb Thanks both very  much. An initially frustrating but now productive afternoon!

[#9]

@Christopher Hoard - does "creating in Teams" include copying/dropping into teams an entire folder structure that you've created in explorer locally?
- also, does this syncing concept also apply for files not created in Teams?

Thanks - Darren

[#10]

It can do - for both, once you have created the team and synced it locally, you can move the folder structure. However, depending on how big that file structure is you may want to move it over part at a time simply to sanity check parts of it before moving it lock stock

Best, Chris

[#11]

@Christopher Hoard 

Building off the original question, how might I sync the SharePoint to reflect my MS teams setup?

Our MS Teams Channels were updated due to an org change (department name change), but our corresponding SP Documents are not reflecting the name update.

I have not tried the 'sync' button in the SP page thinking that might apply the SP settings back into our MS Teams channels.

[#12]

@myh438 SharePoint does not reflect channel name changes in the folder names for Teams. Recommend creating a new channel with the desired name, copying the folder contents over to the new channel, and deleting the old channel. I realize this is not ideal if you have a lot of conversation data you wish to keep, but this has been an effective workaround for me.

[#13]

@jilldiv 

HI, this is kind of ridiculous. Is there any word on whether this will be fixed? I have just jumped through a bunch of hoops because I gave Teams channels names that I needed to change, but since folders were automatically created in SharePoint (and it seems renaming doesn't affect SharePoint folders), I have had to delete and re-create a number of times (fortnately, not much conversation yet).

I have also found that a channel name I've deleted in Teams (AND deleted associated folder in SharePoint) cannot be re-used even if supposedly deleted, because Teams still thinks the name is in use. These things should not BE, my friend.

@Christopher Hoard 

[#14]

@keefah Here is another way of approaching the issue.

Renaming the folders in Sharepoint to the same as the new ones in Teams. Remember that when you create a Team, Office runs through a recipe and creates a Sharepoint folder, an Outlook Group and a shared email address. When you rename the Team it appears that there is not a similar recipe to rename all of those things so you need to do a bit more admin to keep them in sync.

When you get a channel name that isn't working for you and you need to recreate, then it can be quicker to rename it to something else so that the name that you want is not blocked. This works nicely with email addresses.

[#15]

@Chris Webb this does not work for me. I initially created the channels in Teams, then I had to rename them, and now they will not sync. I tried renaming one of the folders in Sharepoint to the same name as the channel, but now Teams shows that there are no files in that channel while I see them in SP and the folder and channel have the same name :(

[#16]

@keefah Same issue here, no amount of syncing or whatever has resolved it. Looking for advice... 

[#17]

@spsalazar It never will. Renaming a channel does not change the name of the SharePoint folder because any links you had to documents would also break. There is no mechanism to rename a folder connected to a channel, only to create new channels and copy files.