Random 'Attachments' folder appeared in OneDrive for Business

[Deleted]

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.

[#2]

Hi @Kevin Zahm

Are you speaking of One Drive for Business or of OneDrive Consumer?

In OneDrive for Business, the folder is called "Attachments" and it is the folder where the attachments are saved from OWA (and it cannot be changed):

Try it by yourself: go to OWA and save an attachment to ODfB:

As you will see, the attachment will be saved (quite obviously...) to the "Attachments" folder in ODfB, regardless of your settings.

Hope it helps...

[#3]

One Drive for Business.

OWA also used to create an "E-mail attachments" folder, which I was able to prevent.

Your answer is the best so far, but the point is, I would never save to a default destination, and never to a generic "Attachments" folder.  I never have, but every time I log on it re-creates the folder.  Yes, I delete it every time, its my file structure thank you.

OK, it understand that currently it can't be changed, but it should be possible to change this behavior.  I can set the download destination in my browser to "choose every time" I should be able to do the same for my e-mail.  It's not a "feature" until it's optional. 

[#4]

I'm trying to understand your concern on this, not sure why you are worried about this folder and no matter you remove it will be recreated, it is part of ODFB default schema. Just leave it there. 

I think you are misunderstanding it, this is not a download folder, you can download files wherever you like on you storage. This folder is used specifically for automatic online file sharing. In Outlook client, you may attach the file and upload to OneDrive. This folder is part of this logic, when you take this action the file will be stored in the Attachment folder and shared with your intended recipient.

I hope that helps. See attached.

[#5]

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@Guilherme Freitas wrote:

I think you are misunderstanding it, this is not a download folder

---

Well, this is not completely true...

As I already said, the Attachments folder is the download folder for attachments saved directly from OWA to ODfB (in fact, there is no possibility to save an attachment to a different ODfB folder from inside OWA...).

[#6]

My concern about this folder (and the dumb Documents folder) is that I want to control my own file management and don't want to see an empty Attachments folder or the OneNote related Documents folder. I guess it is a Type A thing.

My solution? I made the folder hidden and I keep Hidden Items turned off unless I need to see something specific. Mostly because I have a bunch of hidden dot development files that I do not want to wade through when I am working. But it works great for this as well. Hope that helps the other Type A types.

[#7]

The point is, if I save an attachment, I'll decide where to put, not Microsoft.  And I will never put it in a default Attachments folder.  I make my own folder and file storage scheme and don't need useless visual clutter.  It might be fine if you want it, but since I won't ever use, and it's not something I can disable, its a bug not a feature.  I don't want or need it, but Microsoft has decided to create it anyways.  THat's just stupid.

[#8]

Well, there is a way to save a file to a different folder from OWA.  You choose download, and then choose the folder.  Of course this only works if you are syncing to hard drives so there are folders to download to.

If you're moving it from OWA to cloud storage, you're not "downloading" anything.  The advantage (to me) of ODfB is that I can have full version files on my HD at work and at home that are always identical; editing in the cloud is pretty limited. Editing full version from the cloud is pretty slow and sometimes just refuses to save for unspecified "permissions" reasons (on my personal files!).

So, make the "Attachments" folder optional.

[#9]

I don't save to the cloud, I save to my HD and let it sync. I have a "download" option and I use it.

[#10]

 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.

[#11]

I created a script to delete this stupid folder, and a schedule to do it every fifteen minutes, and it gets recreated ALL THE TIME.  Microsoft has decided we need this, but there's no documentation, and I *NEVER* use it, and I wouldn't use their default.  Until they make it an option we can disable they confirm that I will only ever use Microsoft products for work, where I am forced to -- and I used them voluntarily for 30+ years.  This is how you lose customers.  Are they listening?

[#12]

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.

[#13]

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.