"Documents 1" folder auto-created, what is it for?

MVP

So, this "Documents 1" folder just appeared in my root ODFB location. Despite what the popup window describes, this is NOT the Windows Documents folder, which is actually redirected and syncing just fine.

 

ODFBdocuments.png

And there is no "folder settings in Settings > Auto Save", so what on Earth is going on here? @Stephen Rose

13 Replies

I also had a "Documents 1" folder that created itself in my ODFB directory however I was able to delete it normally. Did you try deleting it from the OneDrive web interface?

Nope, first I want to understand what exactly is the intended use for this folder, will it get recreated automatically, etc.

Hi Vasil.

I think the issue is connected with OneDrive new (or "newish") "Folder Protection" feature.

See https://support.office.com/en-us/article/protect-your-files-by-saving-them-to-onedrive-d61a7930-a6fb...

I have problems with this feature too, albeit different from yours...

Thanks @Salvatore Biscari, that seems to describe what the feature is about. It seems to only apply to the consumer OneDrive accounts though, and mine is NOT configured on the machine (thus I don't see the prompt or the corresponding option).

We are moving the data of 10's of thousands to Windows 7 users into OneDrive. We have educated them and saturated them with instructional video. Still, they are putting data into this "Documents 1" folder even though we ask them not to. 

 

Microsoft - who creates this and why?

 

I am seeing the same issue. For one of my users it is actually using the Documents 1 folder as the default documents folder. When I enable folder protection it redirects to Documents 1.

Well I never got an answer to this so I just deleted that folder and continued using ODFB as normal. Open a support case I guess.

I asked in another forum. Ill see what answer i get. It seems like Microsoft is deliberately not addressing the source of why that folder is being created.

@Vasil Michev,. @Stephen Rose -  I do not see an update to this problem.  Has progress been made?  We are preparing to migrate ~1000 users from network drives to OD4B but for half of our test users a 'Documents 1' folder is created and this is the target of the OD4B Sync Client Auto Save.  This is quite important to us and it is blocking our forward progress.  We have had a ticket open with Microsoft for the last couple of weeks.  An update would be much appreciated.  Thanks  -  Greg

@Gregory Frick I'm having the same issue and I've looked and found no answers and workarounds for this. 

Update - I should add we are using the regular OneDrive app and not the OneDrive for Business 

 

@J Pierre Through some trial and error I found (in our case) that the Documents 1 folder was being created because there was some kind of broken pointer between the Documents folder that was created on the machine in the OneDrive - tenantname and the Documents folder that lived in OneDrive.  For whatever reason the two folders could not sync with each other so OneDrive created a new Documents folder and since Documents was already taken it used Documents 1.  We use folder protection for Documents, Pictures and Desktop.  Sometimes we would even get Pictures 1 and Desktop 1 folders also.  Here are the instructions I created for our Help Desk if\when this problem came up for users.  Maybe it will help you.  Good luck

 

1. Ensure all files on the computer are backed up via OneDrive or local folder

2. Unlink account in OneDrive desktop application or unistall OneDrive application

3. Remove all files in Desktop, Documents and pictures on users local profile

4. Remove OneDrive - tenantname folder from c:\users\%username%\

5. Sign into OneDrive in Office 365 web portal

6. Create 3 new folders called documentsold, desktopold and picturesold and move the contents of documents, desktop and pictures into respective folders in OneDrive Office 365 web portal

7. Delete the (now empty) Documents, Desktop and Pictures folder in OneDrive Office 365 web portal

8. Delete Desktop1, Documents1 and Pictures1 if any are present (make sure they are empty first) in OneDrive Office 365 web portal

9. Reconfigure OneDrive application on the local computer. Let files and folders sync and setup folder protection.

10. It will create 3 new folders (Documents, Desktop and Pictures)

11. Move the contents of the other 3 "old" folders into the respective newly created folders. Once moved delete the "old" folders.

12. Done

 

 

 

The only way to remove this auto creation folder is to uninstall one drive from the machine and sync in different location. Remove all unwanted folder from the location and rest will work just fine.

By default OneDrive folder is created in your user profile and there is already a Document folder in user profile. Hence, the application create new folder every time when it starts. It is bug in OneDrive sync. Even if you uninstall the OneDrive with this bug, these folder gets recreated again and again by windows explorer.

I removed OneDrive completely from my laptop due to this behavior and I don't trust one drive any more.

I've had the same problem today with the Sharepoint Migration Tools. When migrating data from local file share to personal Onedrive folder the migration tool was making an documents library named "Documents1".

The solution was to rename the on drive library from "Documenten" to "Documents". The name "Documenten" was in Dutch.