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OneDrive for Business app officially dead??

Iron Contributor

A colleague reported not being able to sync using OneDrive for Business using the older groove.exe app today. I tried myself and got the error "This library can no longer be synced by this application". I tried to go to SharePoint admin and switch syncing back to the old client, but this option is now gone! Has Microsoft taken the OneDrive for Business app behind the woodshed today? There are scenarios where it's still useful (believe it or not), noted here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3125202/restrictions-and-limitations-when-you-sync-files-an...

 

Should I be paying my respects to the officially dead OneDrive for Business?

8 Replies
I think the problem you have is that you are just using an old version of the sync client...may I ask what setup do you have in your machine?
best response confirmed by VI_Migration (Silver Contributor)
Solution

Back in July I received this notice in my Message Center. Checks yours as well. Sounds like the rollout of the change has reached your tenant.

 

The latest version of OneDrive sync supports syncing of shared OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online sites. Starting mid-August, the "Sync" button on SharePoint site libraries and Office 365 Groups will point to the latest OneDrive sync app, as opposed to the previous OneDrive for Business sync client that it points to today. The new sync client will improve reliability and performance and will offer new features, such as selective sync, support for large files (up to 10 GB), and removal of the 20,000 file sync limit. Updates to the new sync client will occur independently of Office and Windows updates. How does this affect me? You are receiving this message because our reporting indicates one or more users in your organization are still configured with the previous OneDrive for Business client. You'll be automatically and seamlessly transitioned to use the new OneDrive sync client for files from SharePoint Online sites if any of your users are still configured with the previous OneDrive for Business client. Users not already using the latest sync app will be upgraded to the latest version. The SharePoint admin center will no longer have the option to sync SharePoint sites with the previous OneDrive for Business sync client. On-premises instances of OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online site libraries with Information Rights Management enabled, and SharePoint Online libraries using external sharing will continue to not be impacted by this change. We'll begin gradually rolling this out to customers mid-August, and the rollout will be completed by the end of September.

 

Sorry OneDrive folks, before you retire the old app you better make sure the new one can handle everything the old one can, like properly syncing libraries requiring check out. My senior PM is not amused!

Raising a support ticket would be step 1, but I'm not sure you're going to get very far with this issue. Groove.exe is going away, the sooner the better.

 

BTW that support link you posted earlier isn't loading for me, so I'm not sure what remaining issues there are that require the Groove.exe client. Perhaps Microsoft considers them to be edge cases that are not worth delaying the move to the next gen client.

It's time for groove.exe to go, but the new client not properly syncing document libraries where approval / check out is required is an issue that is affecting my users, and others I'm sure.

Totally agree with the fact that the new (I would say current) sync client is not completed in terms of capabilities...I have some customers reporting the problem with check-out files and same happens when syncing files that has mandatory columns and these are not filled (the famous "read only" mode problem) cc @Stephen Rice

I think you'll need a ticket and your tenant/clients might get moved to a later update phase.

I was digging into this a bit more to write up a blog post about it

 

In the Message Center notification during July there's an Additional Information link that goes to this page, which at the bottom makes note of the libraries that will transition as read-only.

 

Below that is a footnote with a link to opt out of the sync upgrade, taking you to the bottom of the same page with instructions to opt out your tenant. Does that solve your issue?

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by VI_Migration (Silver Contributor)
Solution

Back in July I received this notice in my Message Center. Checks yours as well. Sounds like the rollout of the change has reached your tenant.

 

The latest version of OneDrive sync supports syncing of shared OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online sites. Starting mid-August, the "Sync" button on SharePoint site libraries and Office 365 Groups will point to the latest OneDrive sync app, as opposed to the previous OneDrive for Business sync client that it points to today. The new sync client will improve reliability and performance and will offer new features, such as selective sync, support for large files (up to 10 GB), and removal of the 20,000 file sync limit. Updates to the new sync client will occur independently of Office and Windows updates. How does this affect me? You are receiving this message because our reporting indicates one or more users in your organization are still configured with the previous OneDrive for Business client. You'll be automatically and seamlessly transitioned to use the new OneDrive sync client for files from SharePoint Online sites if any of your users are still configured with the previous OneDrive for Business client. Users not already using the latest sync app will be upgraded to the latest version. The SharePoint admin center will no longer have the option to sync SharePoint sites with the previous OneDrive for Business sync client. On-premises instances of OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online site libraries with Information Rights Management enabled, and SharePoint Online libraries using external sharing will continue to not be impacted by this change. We'll begin gradually rolling this out to customers mid-August, and the rollout will be completed by the end of September.

 

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