Sync external OneDrive shared folders

[Antoine HESKIA]

Hi,

I have shared a folder from my OneDrive (for business) to an external user (external organization). He has also an O365 E3 subscription. When he click on the invitation email, he sees correctly the content of my folder and can edit any document. But on the toolbar there is no "sync" button to let him synchronize my folder on his computer. How can I enable this feature ?

Thanks for your help,

Antoine

[#2]

HI Stephen,

is there a uservoice entry that we can all support to help this happen.

Thanks

Steven Reid

[#3]

@Steven Reid, absolutely!

The user voice tracking this item is here. Thanks!

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

[#4]

What about now, are we there yet?

I have customers declining to use one drive for the sake of this 1 feature.

Please please make it happen soon - give us cloud resellers another killer feature!!!

[#5]

I too would like to see this.  The lack of this feature means we need to use other systems and not SharePoint for document collaboration and sharing.

[#6]

Do we have an eta on this? On the voice tracking it just says 2019, which we're currently in. Without this ability, OneDrive for business is effectively useless for us.

[#7]

Hi all,

I don't have anything specific to share just yet but we hope to have more news to share soon. Thanks!

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

[#8]

Thanks for feedback!

[#9]

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@Stephen Rice wrote:

Hi all,

I don't have anything specific to share just yet but we hope to have more news to share soon. Thanks!

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

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Good stuff, cant wait for this basic functionality to be implemented at long last.

[#10]

Great that you keep us updated so we know this thread is monitored.

Can you share if it also will be possible to Sync folders shared to "Anyone" with just a link? And with that I mean the following:

Or will it only be possible to external users to share if they actually authenticated and we use "Specific people" to share?

[#11]

Hi @Jonas Back,

In order to sync content from another organization once this feature is released, you will need to have a guest account in that organization's directory. Sending someone a link that works for anyone doesn't result in that guest account being created so you won't be able to sync content. Thanks!

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

[#12]

Hi Stephen,

We have guest accounts setup and they are still not able to Sync from our organisation when they log in with their organisation's details, even though they have been granted access to the libraries.

[#13]

 Hi @Alexis_Spencer ,

Sorry, I should have been a bit more clear :) Syncing of external shared folders is not available yet but, when it becomes available, you will need to have a guest account (i.e. links that work for anyone will not work). Thanks!

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

[#14]

Having just persuaded a client organisation to move away from DropBox to SharePoint, they're a little cross with me about the inability to add external users to SharePoint sites including Sync. Bearing in mind all the documentation that is out there about how to Enable External Users in SharePoint, there was nothing about this bombshell. +1 for adding a Guest User (no licence) in the client tenant who can then sync to OneDrive. Thanks!

[#15]

This feature is available most everywhere else, I can only assume your infrastructure was not built for it or it is intentionally being held back.

Over a year ago there was an announcement it was available but never actually worked and here we are still talking about it.

Like some others here, I've tried to champion Microsoft as a solution and have been left looking like a fool on multiple occasions.

PLEASE get this done - we are in the process of rolling out Microsoft solutions.  If we cannot get these basic features to work, our users will wander elsewhere and you will lose another customer.

[#16]

Hi @Choking ,

I'm sorry for any confusion around the release date here. We absolutely understand the need and I can promise you that we want to get this out there just as much as you want to use it. Unfortunately I don't have anything new to share just yet except to say that we are making progress and we hope to have more to share out soon. Thanks,

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

[#17]

Thanks for a quick response.

I'm not trying to be petty or threaten at all but we have to have a solution and will have to move on.

What about assigning a OneDrive license to them?  Making them something more that a contact?  Anything??

If we create an internal account it would work but that isn't a manageable solution and would involve an email that they can't use.

[#18]

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?featureid=33413

CY-March 2019

I wouldn't put money on this though.  As noted earlier, this was released a year ago and pulled.

[#19]

Hi @Choking,

Assigning the user a full license and managing them would also let you do this.

We do strive to keep our roadmap dates up to date though as you've noted, there are ocassional changes. In this case, I can tell you that cross organization sync is currently in public preview for Office/Windows Insiders and so there is definite progress being made. Thanks!

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II

[#20]

Thanks for the frequent responses that help to keep this issue warm, Stephen.  I'd be happy to help with the testing if you want to connect off-line.  I just transitioned "off-systems" for my 6-month mandatory cool down- being unable to sync is causing some process issues as mentioned elsewhere in this thread.

Best,

Ben Morrison (Populus Group)

Project Manager (Recruiting)

MS Military Affairs

[#21]

Hi Ben,

If you sign up for Office & Windows insiders programs, I believe you can try this out for yourself now (since it's rolled out publically for those programs). I'm not sure what the process is for joining those programs though :) Thanks,

Stephen Rice

OneDrive Program Manager II