Forum Discussion
Random 'Attachments' folder appeared in OneDrive for Business
Has anyone else seen this?
A new empty folder called 'Attachments' has appeared in all our users' OneDrive account and we can't figure out why. Searching online hasnt returned any suggestions either.
Seeing the same here, the folder was created a couple of days ago. I thought it might be related to saving attachments from Outlook but I can't see a connection. Saving attachments from Outlook on the web goes to an 'Email Attchments' folder, saving attachments from Outlook 2016 goes to the root of OneDrive.
- Strange, as stated by Yoav, this folder appears as soon as you send a file as an attachment from OWA and you decide to store it in ODFB...same happens with Groups
Great isn't it that they have done something without telling people.
I tried to delete, but it keeps re-appearing.
I delete it every time I see it. I noticed it reappears after I restart OneDrive, or if I save an attachment from e-mail - even though I always choose the folder to save attachments in. Once I hit "download" it seems t ocreate the folder just in case I want to use it.
Gues what Microsoft: this is poor programming. Set us up with clear documentation of (a) why and how this folder exists and (b) how to prevent it. My OneDrive and Office365 account should have that setting available to me.
This folder is automatically added when you have ODFB connected to your Organization account.
Basically if you attach a file to Outlook and before sending the mesage you choose to upload to OneDrive the attachment will be stored in the Attachment folder. The file will be automatically shared with the recipient as Viewer/Editor.
The recipient can open the file directly on the mail link, edit and close it. When doing that the recipient is modifying the file that is stored in the Attachment folder.
Long story short, if you feel usefull enjoy =) if not just let the folder there it is part of ODFB schema.
I'm trying to create a OneDrive training for my entire business function and I am going to have to say "Microsoft is being a pain" in order to explain why some or all of us have BOTH "Attachment" and "Email Attachment" folders not to mention a "Documents" folder, all of which are:
1) unexplained
2) un-killable zombies that arise from the grave every time you shoot them, if you try to delete
Most of us non-programmers (and we are legion) do not have the chops to hide these folders, nor to intuit a specialized relationship between these folders and any other apps we use.
If you even try to tell one of my colleagues that there's a OneDrive FOR BUSINESS vs. another flavor you will get a thousand-yard stare and/or instant recoil.
And I train people starting WEDNESDAY. And my best option will be to tell people to ignore these folders that are cluttering up this tool and confusing the hell out of them.
So yeah, am I going to say "Microsoft is being a pain"?
As we say in Midwest U.S.... you betcha.
- Hi Melanie, as I have written in this topic before, this is part of the ODFB schema. As customers (Admins) we do not have total control of this. But no worries about your users, just ask them to ignore it or use how it is supposed to (Attaching documents from the local client to the cloud). We will not explain all the folders and subfolders of user's PC C Drive anyway. They are used to follow our instructions. I do manage an organization with 50k+ ODFB users and those folders were never an issue.
I have this too. Its not part of the "E-mail attachments" issue.
I have the same issue.. I have a normal folder called email attachments ( I'm Dutch, so it is called E-mail bijlagen) Suddenly one (one time even two) folders 'Attachments / Attachments (2) appear.. Even more strange is, that they even appear in Dutch sometimes and than they are called 'Bijlagen'. These folders are created on strange date / time combination and donnot contain any files and are easely removed but I would like to know where they come form.. More importend how can I prevent them from being created.
- I am also getting same attachment folder. Infact I deleted twice again, but it appears again.
I found one discussion on MS forum, solution is attachment setting in outlook. I made the changes in outlook setting, Now no more attachment folder. Please see following url, hope this helps
If you are on a Mac, I have a solution that takes 30 seconds to permanently hide this "Attachments" folder. It uses the Terminal app. http://eastmeadia.com/blog/user-experience/stop-creating-onedrive-attachments-folder/
I have the same problem and I'm not using Outlook. I use Gmail. Randomly attachment and document folders appear. I don't want them. Always delete them. It's super annoying. MICROSOFT PLEASE FIX!
The "Attachments" folder is where the email attachments are saved from OWA to ODfB: in fact, it was purposely introduced at the beginning of 2017 together with the ability to save attachments from OWA to ODfB. See https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/OneDrive-for-Business/Attachments-Folder/td-p/132411
It is automatically created in the root of each user's ODfB, also if you never use it, and it is recreated if it is deleted.
So, there is nothing to fix: this is by design.
Which other folders do you see magically appearing?
This answer doesn't make sense. I had an "E-mail attachments" folder created but I've changed all the attachment preference settings to "Always attach them as copies" (I like to control my own file locations, thank you). the "E-mail attachments" folder has not been seen since; the one we are asking about is called simply "Attachments" and regardless of someone's design, I have not chosen to use it, not been able to figure out what is creating it. I just want to be able to disable it.
As I said, I control my own file locations, than you very much, not Microsoft.
When attachments are downloaded from emails in Outlook to your OneDrive, it routes them to the Attachments folder. I tried this and it worked as explained in this article. Hope it helps. https://blogs.office.com/en-us/2015/05/18/outlook-web-app-onedrive-for-business-just-got-better/
There's a separate "E-mail attachments" folder that can be disabled.
I've set all my attachment settings to "Always attach them as copies" and I always "Save as" any attachments I need to keep so I can sort them out. I never would leave a default download destination, and I don't care if someone else wants to. We should be able to disable this "Attachments" folder and not see it again.
And still, no one has been able to say specifically what program is creating it, so I could even look for a setting at the user or admin level.
My biggest problem with this folder auto-creating is that it causes OneDrive for Business sites to be automatically provisioned for users even if they've never stored anything there. This is a pain when deprovisioning users because it makes it non-obvious that there is relevant data in a users OneDrive. If this folder wasn't auto-created, then if a user had a OneDrive site we could be sure that at some point they stored a file there. With this auto-creating folder OneDrive sites are provisioned even if a user never saves files to it and then we have to decide do we back up a OneDrive site when a user departs, simply because it exists or do we have to do a deeper check to ensure there is more than this Attachments folder.
