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]

I just tested with a couple end users.  Both of which were unable to sync using the new client while using IE - no matter which library experience was activated, or after disabling the activeX control in IE.  The only working solution was to sync the library in Firefox (library experience did not matter in this case).

I believe there is fine print in the troubleshooting section for this beta version, explaining this may be the case in Windows 7 & IE...

[#3]

I've tried it in one new user. They had .jar files. They wouldn't sync. The new Activity window was going kinda psychadelic. Not pleasant. Flashing between a red warning about that and the normal blue progress reporting of the other (100s) of files upload progress. (BTW I was accessing the PC remotely.)

I'm gonna try giving the user customize permissions on the SP site to see if that allows the .jar files to sync.

[#4]

Why are they storing jar files in ODFB? Seems odd to me, but I assume there's a rational explanation.

[#5]

So, the user has a business app written in Java where the suggested backup solution is just to copy the whole folder. So they thought, just plonk it in my team's site...

Adding the customize perm has let the .jar files sync. The consequences of that to the SharePoint site I don't know...

[#6]

Not an ideal experience so far, but I guess that's why it's in Preview.  What I've found.

1.  I could not get the New sync to take over for document libraries in IE at all.  IE 11 Windows 7.  I have to use Chrome to initiate a sync or else it reverts to the old sync client.

2.  I have not been able to get the tenant name with all the document libraries as folders added to my favorites menu the way OneDrive for Business is.  It's buried under C:local\users......

3.  I've seen the OneDrive is processing message a lot.  Once I see this the only remedy appears to be to log out and log back in.  It never finishes processing.

4.  I've also see a OneDrive is signing in message for a long period of time.  Only a log out and log back in seems to fix it.

5.  Both 3 and 4 appear to happen without changes being made to any of libraries I'm syncing.  No one else is making any changes.  They're just test libraries. 

6.  I have expereince a few crashes where OneDrive needs to be restrated.

When it works it works well.  I assume these little issue will get ironed out before preview ends. 

[#7]

This is good to know.  We are moving into SP 2013 hybrid setup with ODB in the cloud and ensuring that the correct sync is running will be important.

[#8]

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@Alan McFarlane wrote:

So, the user has a business app written in Java where the suggested backup solution is just to copy the whole folder. So they thought, just plonk it in my team's site...

Adding the customize perm has let the .jar files sync. The consequences of that to the SharePoint site I don't know...

---

Yeah that sounds less than ideal :)

I've had some issues with the preview client this week. Work I did on my main computer hasn't synced to the library apparently. I think the client is stuck in "processing" status, but now I'm in another country so it's a little difficult to troubleshoot :\

[#9]

I know the blog mentions SharePoint Online document libraries so I assume this would include Group document libraries? I followed the instructions to install the preview client BUT did not see the note to open the new client at least once, so I think I am still using the old client to sync my SharePoint library, which is working well. Since following the instructions however, my original NGSC has gone into meltdown and is permanently ‘processing changes’ and not doing anything else.

I am a bit stuck now

[#10]

I gave up on syncing other libraries until this is fixed.  However, I'm still seeing the behavior you described.   I'm stuck with "processing changes" until I shut it down and restart it.   When I click on the ODFB icon it says its up to date, hovering it says "processing changes". 

[#11]

This is true, it seems the processing changes bug is a major issue, have high hopes for this client hope we will have a more stable version soon.

[#12]

Yes is does include the syncing of groups, however I was not able to get the new sync to take over for groups or sharepoint sites unless I used Chrome.  When using IE it wanted to continue to use the old groove.exe.  See my other post for other issues I'm experiencing with the new sync client.  I hope another build comes out soon. 

[#13]

Looks like there is a new build (17.3.6673.1011) out of the preview client.
I believe the version that was released after the announcement at Ignite was 17.3.6642.0922.

Have you guys noticed any improvements in the new build when it comes to the "processing changes" issue?

I just upgraded to the new build today and so far it is still syncing files even after the computer have been running for a few hours :)

[#14]

I had to remove the preview builds and disable the reg key. Since installing it my explorer processes were terribly unstable, as well as the "processing changes" issue which left me in the lurch when I travelled overseas and changes to work in progress hadn't synced from my main PC, so it wasn't available to me while I was on the road.

While I'm not yet 100% sure OneDrive was the cause of the explorer.exe problems, I haven't had the issue since reverting.

[#15]

Thanks for pointing out the new build.  Just installed.  I'll see how it goes the rest of the week. 

[#16]

Hi Norman, I might have done something wrong during my setup. Now OneDrive crashes when it tries to load the folders for a OneDrive library. So it does start the sync dialog but crashes when loading the folder structure. 

Any ideas on fixing this? Or do I need to wait for an update? 

[#17]

The new build is working well for me, no problems at all with the sync.  I have successfully synced my Office 365 Group document libary.  However, I have noticed that when attempting to share a document from Windows Explorer, the OneDrive sharing menu is not displayed, so its current not possible to share, or be directed to the online sharing options directly from Windows Explorer when syncing a Office 365 Group document library.

[#18]

Thank you for your experience and courage in deploying the new build.  I was rendered gun shy by the sync issues in the first release and applaud those more adventurous and persistent.   Hope your instalation remains stable. With one more positve experience posted I will be tempted to reinstall. 

[#19]

I have the sync option for the entire Group Document library but not individual folders within the Group files.   Are you having the same experience?   If I have 35 folders but only need one then this seems like a waste, shouldn't I be able to just sync an individual folder?  

[#20]

No you should be able to selectively sync the folders that you want.  Right click on the sync client and click on settings.  You should see the ability to select which folders you want to sync per document library.

Since upgrading to the latest build my client has been stable.  No longer stuck processing changes or attempting to log in.  It also has been reconnecting without issues.  The only issue that remains for me is that I cannot initiate a sync in IE.  I have to use Chrome to initiate a document library sync. 

[#21]

It will only allow me to sync the entire "documents" folder.  As soon as I select a folder the sync option disappears.   The only option given is to sync the entire library.   I'm running first release and build 17.3.66.73.1011 of OneDrive for Business.   I can't see how the OneDrive Client would prevent me from having an option to sync subfolders.