Files On-Demand for macOS QA

[Ankita Kirti]

Hello there! 

2.24.22 UPDATE: We've been listening to your feedback, and we've made some design changes. We're releasing a new version that addresses the most common themes and makes it easier to achieve the previous experience. Please read the latest blog post for more details.

Two weeks ago, we posted an update about Files On-Demand for macOS and have received overwhelming feedback from the community. We have spent a lot of time reading your comments and concerns to understand how we can improve your experience on macOS. To address some of the common issues and doubts we have updated the blog with a FAQ. If you still have more queries feel free to reach out to the team directly on this thread. 

Thank you for your constant support and partnership!

Team OneDrive 

@Jack Nichols

@gacarini 

@Carter_MSFT 

[#2]

@Ankita Kirti Another question - what do the OneDrive icons in finder mean now? The support article doesn't seem to reflect the reality of the latest App Store build. The screenshot attached shows some of the icons for files I have supposedly set to "always keep on this device".

[#3]

I'm glad you fixed the Autosave bug with the Mac App store version; that helped a lot. However, one more bug that's really bothering me: even though I've selected "keep all files on this device" at the root, many many files don't actually load until I manually navigate to the folder. This is bad because it means that Alfred can't find these files via Spotlight. Alfred is the main way to I navigate files so this is a deal breaker.

Why isn't it possible to have "always keep on this device" directly download the folders to /CloudStorage rather than to the OneDrive cache elsewhere on the device?

[#4]

@dan_e Running this script in Terminal will create (but not download) the folder structure and files which solved this initial problem for me. It's based on the script provided here .

I don't know, however, whether OneDrive keeps the structure up-to-date as new files and folders are added remotely.

ls -alR ~/Library/CloudStorage/

[#5]

And still no reply...
@Ankita Kirti @Jack Nichols

[#6]

Got today 22.002.0201.0005 version and while trying to upgrade got error below even though my permissions and lock is ok

[#7]

I have just updated One Drive and was very confused by all the changes. I found some explanation on thread https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-onedrive-blog/inside-the-new-files-on-demand-experi...

However in that thread Jack writes - 

Why is it sometimes slow to browse folders in my OneDrive?

To save space and system resources, the File Provider platform doesn't actually create the files OneDrive is managing until the first time you need them. The first time you open a OneDrive folder, macOS will create them on-demand. This can sometimes take a moment.

To avoid this delay, you can force the system to pre-create all of these files and folders for you without downloading your content. To do this, open a Terminal window and type "ls -alR ~/OneDrive" (or the path to your OneDrive). This will ensure all of your files and folders are created, but not downloaded, before you browse.

I did this and this action started to deleted my files on OneDrive files my computer and online!! After about a half an hour of deleting I realise and terminated the terminal program. This is madness. I think I have a back up of the lost files, but this needs to be quickly amended or else many other users could lose their all their files. 

Tom

[#8]

I've found a slight 'fix' to this 'offline' debacle. I first did this - 'open a Terminal window and type "ls - alR ~/OneDrive" (or the path to your OneDrive)' and then clicked the Cloud icon of the folder to fix. Then in Finder sitting at an unexpanded OneDrive root folder, press Option/Right Arrow. This fully expands the subfolder tree, and this initially seemed to 'work', in that I got an accurate folder total size. The only issue - files subsequently copied into the folder are reverted back to 'On Demand'. It seems this is in fact intended behaviour by Microsoft,

I well recall when Apple gave the middle finger to Pro a few years back users its Mac range slipped to single figures, my close friend took direct part in subsequent QA discussions and Apple reversed course. My IT company in Melb. AU sold almost 10yrs ago had well over 4k SMB and Mid customers over 25yrs and it's people like those on this forum and I who are the influencers of many - I've been inundated with queries and so far I'm saying sit tight.

That said, I've watched closely the replies above from MS Team @Ankita Kirti @Jack Nichols @gacarini @Carter_MSFT and it seems there is silence on whether 'On Demand' is here to stay, and local or offline files gone. I sincerely hope that's not the case, however if it is then this is moving into Class Action territory and/or Consequential Damages for any prolonged outage or God forbid if data is lost. Not me, but I can fore-see where this might go.

I get it that MS want sticky customers, who doesn't - but this is not the way to do it.!!!

Taking away MY RIGHT to use and backup MY DATA on MY DEVICES is egregious and unconscionable, and arrogant beyond belief.

[#9]

I'm having the exact same issue, and only with the OneDrive content. I've rebuilt Spotlight index several times, still not finding my supposedly downloaded files in Spotlight nor Alfred, not even folders… OneDrive is indeed maddening, and an awful ressource hog.
This version was NOT ready for prime time!

[#10]

@Ankita Kirti 

This is a quote from your previous article posted here by @Jack Nichols https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/forums/editpage/board-id/OneDriveBlog/message-id/2651.

I am now posting here as you appear to have moved the discussion into this new thread.

---

Will this work with local file indexing (e.g. Apple's Spotlight)?

Yes. Spotlight indexes everything that is in your sync root, but note that Spotlight will not fetch (or hydrate) files that are dataless. If you are looking for something in Spotlight that could only be read from the full file (such as image EXIF data), only fully hydrated files will be indexed.

Spotlight will not index our cache folder.

---

Oh, I see. After years of OneDrive having an excellent Mac client, you Mr. @Jack Nichols and your team decided to basically render it useless in one sweep with the snap of your fingers. Speak about a Thanos delirium complex!

You have just decided to completely kill:

• Spotlight integration of any file inside OneDrive. Indexing of only names in 2022 is completely useless. Content indexing is paramount for a search service like Spotlight in any platform.
• QuickLook integration of any file inside OneDrive. Together with Spotlight you just killed another key function of macOS as now you have to open every single file inside OneDrive if you want to quicklook at it from Finder.
• Having to manually click on any new OneDrive folder added from another device and mark it as "Always Keep on This Device" is such a joke, this completely kills the synchronization workflow from all your customers that need to access their data offline (basically everyone traveling that uses more than one device with OneDrive).

I have Dropbox installed in my Mac and it has none of this nonsense. Many of the other cloud storage services have also no problem keeping their content synced offline for Spotlight to index it as it should.

Anybody here knows if it is possible to include this cache folder in the Spotlight index to get back part of the lost integration for full content indexing?

[#11]

@Tooth_Fairy 

It happens even worse to me. Onedrive takes 6GB memory in a Mac M1 8GB. It doesn't make sense at all. 

Any answer from Microsoft?

[#12]

Thanks for resolving my issue www.pcloud.com!

I've been a Microsoft 365 subscriber for years, not any more. Not a single person could answer any of the questions I posted, and reposted. Moved over to pCloud, less of a clown show there and the service actually works. Their solution for files on-demand is way better.

[#13]

Just so. I have ten years worth of Word documents that I can no longer content search. This "update" is utterly unjustifiable degradation.

[#14]

Wow: now I feel lucky that it's only consuming 2GB of my 16. (Which is, of course, still utterly horrendous.)

[#15]

Y'all, it's been a moment since there was communication from the Microsoft side. Is there a timeline to un**bleep** this, or is the official decision that our needs are irrelevant. I'd really like to know what you folks are planning to address, because that has bearing on how I engage with my internal IT teams regarding supporting a distributed workforce.

Lack of communication regarding the issues that have been surfaced will be interpreted as choosing not to address those issues.

[#16]

@Ankita Kirti 

@Jack Nichols

@gacarini 

@Carter_MSFT 

You made a promise to answer more queries about the OneDrive changes here. I can see a lot of folks struggling with the new experience, as well as a few genuine bugs being reported.  I can't see a Microsoft reply to this thread since @Jack Nichols about 5 days ago. Could you pay us the respect of either replying to the questions, or letting us know that you're listening but making changes so answering questions wouldn't be sensible at the moment?

[#17]

@rgb2022 

Yes, the Microsoft team are notable by their absence. Sadly I suspect that they have decided that we are the ones "who are using it wrong" and have completely stopped engaging with us.

I would like to think I could be wrong, but there are no signs to support that. MS seems to have decided that OneDrive is now a pure remote experience, and that use-cases such as traveling, tertiary backup and intermittent or expensive internet are not cases they want to support.

I am having to move all my files - my Cyber Insurance insists I have a third-party (non-Microsoft) backup of what is on my (paid, business) MS365 and I cannot now do that, so I am having to move everything.

I used to back up everything using Acronis but I cannot now do that.

[#18]

Thanks for the tip I am checking it out.

[#19]

I thought I somehow screwed up. But no, now I am aware that you made changes with little or no warning. You have no idea the amount of pain this has cause, Multiple installations of your app. Redownloading information I require on my laptop. I really feel like I've been kicked in the nuts. Keep it up, I won't need a vasectomy.

[#20]

After this update to on-demand files, Onedrive for MacOs seems to be useless for me as a photographer. I've lost access to all my RAW files, pictures and cannot access them from Adobe application like Bride, Lightroom and PS including Final Cut Pro.
I know, they are located in Library currently, but how to change my workflow and access my files when using Adobe or other software?
Any advice?

[#21]

Having used OneDrive for years, I do have to say I'm just sad and disappointed with the current state of things for OneDrive on the Mac after spending the past two weeks trying to figure out how to rework all my workflows that were heavily relying on OneDrive, as well as trying to explain to several less tech-savvy friends what was happening to OneDrive on their Macs, where their files are and what to do from now on.

Apple-mandated changes aside — as other cloud services will have to deal with them as well — this rollout was disastrously poorly communicated, and some changes which seem to be pure Microsoft decisions (like files on demand not being optional anymore) break so many workflows that it is simply incredible this was not properly and thoroughly tested before rollout. This feels like it has not been tested at all in real-life professional scenarios.

These decisions have led to a mess with a number of other bits of software, including e.g. Cryptomator (which needs encrypted files to reside locally), DEVONthink (which so far works fine with indexed files being on OneDrive, but leads to an inherently risky and potentially dangerous setup if one can not guarantee that they will always be available offline), and most of all any backup software (as one is no longer guaranteed local backups include all files as they may not have been available locally when backup ran — I fail to see how corporate customers will be happy with that state of things).

I don't feel like leaving OneDrive for Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud, but then again, the current setup is all but reassuring when it comes to file availability and file integrity. It's a mess, who knows what's online, offline, or somewhere in-between, and I've found several corrupted images on the local drive that were otherwise fine in the cloud, leading me to believe there is something seriously wrong with the way OneDrive is syncing files now and making them available to macOS.

I have two M365 subscriptions, a personal and a business one, mostly for the fact that OneDrive was so crucial to my workflows and was such a great deal as part of the 365 subscription.