My experience with the new OneDrive Team Site Sync

[Norman Di Pasquale]

Microsoft announced at Ignite that the new preview OneDrive client would sync full Team Sites, link here: https://blogs.office.com/2016/09/26/sharepoint-online-sync-preview-headlines-ignite-announcements-fo...

Shortly after this, I got an email from a CEO of one of my clients threatening to do bad things to me if I didn't make his SharePoint repository easier to access via his desktop, so I decided to pilot the new sync client with him.

After downloading the new sync client and putting in the reg key, be sure to open the new client at least once so the association with the "Sync" button in Team Sites is made, otherwise OneDrive for Business will continue to be the default app when you press Sync.

Once I cleared this hurdle, the Sync button brought up the new client. I was guided through the normal OneDrive wizard of selecting which folders I wanted to sync (useful when you have a 120Gb Team Site). Once done the folders started to fly in to the OneDrive local folder. Some Xs appeared on files and folders with a - (dash), once I renamed them they synced up.

When you go to Settings on the new OneDrive app, it now shows all the different doc libraries you have synced and you can reselect which folders you would like to sync.

Overall the speed and functionality of the new OneDrive app is excellent, and for those long suffering folks with half solutions making doc libraries accessible on desktops, I'd strongly recommend it.

[#2]

Thank you for Sharering

[#3]

Thanks for sharing, where is the guidance/reg key details to get the next gen sync client to start syncing team sites too?

[#4]

Follow the details on this page. There is a link to download the required reg key there too.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Get-started-syncing-SharePoint-sites-with-the-new-OneDrive-...

[#5]

I must have done something wrong in the process because I am not able to get anything to sync and OneDrive for Business just keep shutting down whenever I try to perform a sync.  I'm able to see the Folders I'm trying to sync but there is nothing in them and the OneDrive files I was previously syncing are still there but they won't sync either.   Any suggestions? 

[#6]

Thanks for this.

[#7]

Did you install and open the new OneDrive client? Even if you don't configure the client prior to syncing, this is a must.

[#8]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Great to know that it's working well.

[#9]

The changeover was reasonably easy. Having to stop sync and then re-sync everything was a little annoying but the new client build seems to sync faster than the legacy client, so it's bearable.

I've had the new build crash a few times when adding a new document library to sync, but other than that it's been stable.

Interestingly, the old groove.exe client seems to have been ignoring file type restrictions that were set on the libraries. The new client respects them, so all of a sudden a bunch of Zip files in our group library got flagged.

I also noted that reinstalling/repairing Office on your computer reverts to the non-preview build and lost the ability to sync libraries, so I had to repeat the preview install + reg key steps.

[#10]

Im having mixed results with the new client and reg key.

Adding multiple SharePoint Doc Libraries is resulting on OneDrive crashes on some clients.

One client which worked well over days, keeps on crashing after startup.

It had 5 shared OneDrive for Business folders in sync. Once deleted it works well again.

My experience is mixed based upon this.

I know it will be a great addition but right now im not pushing it out in production environments.

Anyone having these same experiences, or getting luck of repairing the issue when multiple SharePoint Doc Libraries are synced?

[#11]

My experience so far has been promising except a single crash the very first time i added the libraries the sync client has been working fine so far on all workstations for my tenant.

[#12]

You are gutsy to roll that out to a whole network, for now I'm just using it in cases where there's a serious Team Site access issue.

[#13]

Exactly the same, although it seems to be working fine so far. This has been a major request from my Customers hope we get the final client soon.

[#14]

stuck in "processing changes". Restarting the client fixes the issue and everything syncs again until it gets stuck again in about an hour. Anyone observing similar behavior. Our machines are all on Windows 10

[#15]

Hi Peter,

I have the same issue.

Running Windows 10 Enterprise 1607 (OS Build 14393.222) and OneDrive for Business 17.3.6642.0922.

[#16]

Yes, my ODFB Preview icons go into a "processing changes" state for long periods of time, and a file stays in "downloading" as well. I suspect the cause is that someone else in the group has the document open for editing, because I've seen the same behavior with the old client when I have a document open locally for a long time.

[#17]

Well it seems the bug does exist in window 10 1607 with the new client. Processing changes stuck till restart.

Also i noticed that the same happens if you let the computer go to sleep. On wake up processing changes till a proper restart.

Update:Client seems to be much more stable with office collaboration unchecked!!!!!!, any use of sharing through office2016 results in the same bug.

[#18]

Each time I a make a local file change or add/delete a file locally ODFB gets stuck in processing changes. Quit and restart fixes. Also it seems my team site sync folder is locked and I can not add or modify locally. Little green icon and I now lack permissions even though I am the owner.

[#19]

Can anyone confirm that you can only sync SharePoint libraries with the new client if you are using the new sharepoint library experience?

When I click on the Sync button in the classic library, the NGSC will open, but ask me to log in to sync.  When I enter my credentials, it will say that I am already logged in with that account.

If I click on the Sync button in a SharePoint library with the new experience enabled, it appears to work as designed, where the NGSC will pop up and let me choose which folders to sync.

Is this working as intended?  Are we going to be forced to use the new library experience (which doesn't allow users to manage their library alerts after they've been created) to sync using OneDrive?

Michael

[#20]

Thats exactly what our experience is, too.
So yes, it looks like you are getting forced into the new library experience.

Don't forget the possible limitations:
I Quote:"
Several features are in the process of being rolled out and may not be available globally yet:
- Support for shared folders
- Support for Mac
- Automatic sync takeover from groove.exe
- Read-only sync of files from read-only libraries, libraries that require check out, or libraries with required columns or metadata"