A request for help: SharePoint causing tons of sync problems?

[Reid Hamilton]

This is likely not the right forum for this kind of question, but given the large number of experts here who seem to know what they are talking about and give tailored advice, I'm hoping someone can lend a hand or at least direct me to another resource that can help me solve all the issues I've been having with Office 365, which I think are probably related to SharePoint/OneDrive for Business syncing.

Warning, there are a lot of issues, so this might get a little long, but I'm going to try to stick with the most pertinent information.

I have two Office 365 accounts, one for work where I'm at a small organization (just me and one other person, no IT support) and a school account.  I sync SharePoint sites from both accounts to two computers, one running Windows 10 and Office 2016, another running Windows 7 and Office 2010.  Most of my problems are limited to the Win 100 machine.

I'm using the NGSC Build 18.025.0204.0009 to sync files locally to the machine.  I rarely access any files via the web browser.  Since I've started using Office 2016 and SharePoint together I've had nothing but problems that are mostly related to syncing.  An incomplete list:

• Office apps crash on me daily
• Using the attach link button in Outlook to link to a recent "cloud" file that I just saved gives me a "Cannot find this file" error almost every single time
• When I'm working on a file at the same time as another person, but working in different sections, saving the file always automatically creates a copy of the file and won't merge my changes into the document
• I typically open document files to use as a template to create a new file, for things like client agreements and the like.  The typical workflow has been to open the file, make changes, and then do a save as to create a new file with the changes, leaving the original intact
  • autosave changes this workflow, and while I know the first thing I should do is change the file name, and then make my changes, I don't always remember
  • When that happens and I do a save as, I'm given a dialog box asking if I want to save in the copy only, or in both places...but save in the copy only has been greyed out most of the times I've tried it
  • No big deal, save in both places and then use the previous versions to restore the original file
  • But the previous version will open, but will not allow me to enable editing, giving the helpful "A file error has occurred" error.
• Quite regularly Office documents will report problems saving, and tell me that I'm not connected to the internet, when I definitely am

All of these problems happen with both 365 accounts.  I've tried repairing Office and reinstalling the desktop apps as well as the NGSC without any change.  For the last few months I've ended up spending hours each week wrestling with Office 365 and trying to fix all the problems that pop up, and I'm just so frustrated, but can't figure out how to solve the problems.  Searching the internet for the error messages I'm getting is my normal approach to troubleshooting, but surprisingly I can't find anyone else with the same error messages.

[#2]

So I received my computer back with a fresh install of the OS as expected.  Since then I've been trying to only slowly add back programs and keep as much at the default settings as I can stand.  Windows has been updated and is on the Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted).  I am using Office 2016 ProPlus Retail.  I'm not sure if there is an issue, because when I originally installed it I was forced to associate it with an email account, and so I used the same account as I have an Office 365 subscription with, but I do not want to use a subscription version of Office (I will not be at this job for that much longer, and do not want to lose access to Office when I leave).

The OneDrive client is 18.044.0301.0006, which has only updated via Windows Update as far as I know.  I've disconnected my Windows 7 machine from OneDrive, so that shouldn't cause any conflicts if it ever was.  I've only connected one of my Office 365 accounts to OneDrive for Business so far, and am syncing one SharePoint folder.  This Office 365 account is a different account than the one that is associated with the Office 2016 install, in case that matters.

So even with these changes I've been facing mostly the same issues as before.  Files that should have a cloud by them in the Outlook attach file dialog only show up as local files.  Files that do have  a cloud icon will not attach a link to a message, I get the cannot find this file error message.  Starting a couple of days ago when I was working on some files in Word that were saved to my ODfB folder I received error messages that cannot be dismissed saying "Upload Blocked" and something about needing to signin to my account.  Of course I was already signed in, and signing in again didn't do anything to fix the problem.  I tried saving instead to the synced SharePoint folder for the same account, but still got the same error. Searching for fixes I saw a suggestion to clear out the credential manager of Microsoft, Office, and OneDrive accounts.  There were about a dozen of these listed in the credential manager, associated with 4 different Microsoft accounts.  Clearing them out seems to have fixed the syncing issue, but I'm worried that it will just return again as I have need to use various MS accounts again.  And I still don't have the cloud attachment bug fixed.

I'm pretty frustrated, and just about ready to throw in the towel on integration.  Cut down my work Office 365 account to just Exchange, and move our file server to Box or Dropbox which we've used without any problems for years...but figured before I rule all my past efforts a sunk cost, I'd try to see if there are any last suggestions for what might be going wrong, or more importantly how to fix it.

[#3]

Hi Reid,

I just want to add, your not the only one having this issue! We moved from Dropbox to SharePoint last year and have been plagued by the same issue you describe here (On Windows 10). It happens to random users for us and has occurred regularly enough for it to be a frustration for us!

I have contacted O365 support on this a couple of times but they suggest applying the windows credentials fix and quick repair office/restart computer. The problem then just goes away for a couple weeks then re-occurs.

We also have issues where the sync client is saying they cannot merge changes to document even when users have no idea what the document is as they have never opened it! I would assume they may have mistakenly open the file but this has happened to multiple users!

Sorry I can't be much help, but now I know it's not just me having this problem! Hopefully someone from the SharePoint team sees this!

[#4]

Thanks Shanuj, glad to hear that it isn't just me.

[#5]

Gotta love these "productivity" tools.  ;)  Not to pile on, but I am having many of the same issues you are as well.  Additionally, I get a "spinning" icon (indicating syncing) that does not seem to resolve for a very long time (hours).  I found that if I make changes to the file that's open in Office in my synced folder, then save, sometimes this resolves.  If it is not resolved, I often get "couldn't update" messages.  Sometimes, when I open an office document, I get the "server copy is newer than local copy" message when I just created or updated the document.  Very confusing, very annoying.  I have to just live with these problems because I just don't seem to have the time it takes to dive into researching an actual solution.  It takes too long.

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[#6]

So for work we eventually did throw in the towel and have been in the process of moving everything over to Box.com, which has been working better for our needs.  But I still need to use SharePoint for collaboration with school classmates.  For the last few weeks things were generally running better for me just using SharePoint for school, but in the last few days I've again started running into problems and I'm hoping I can get some suggestions or ideas on what might be going on.

When I'm creating documents, I'm primarily working offline as I find I concentrate better without the distractions.  While working on my document I save frequently, and my expectation was that the document is being saved locally in my SharePoint folder, and then when I go back online it will sync with SharePoint automatically or if someone else happened to be working on the document at the same time I might get a conflicted copy.  But that doesn't seem to be what is happening.  Instead, I've been getting a red arrow notification in the tray saying there is a problem with uploading the file.  Yesterday though I had a bigger problem.  I was offline and opened the file from the File Manager.  Worked on it offline for a few hours saving regularly, and then came home and went back online.  I've noticed that it won't try to sync the file until it is closed, so I saved and closed, and then went to open back up again from the File Manager and saw that the timestamp on the file was still from a few hours before, the last time I'd been online.  Opening the file confirmed that indeed none of the work I'd done had been saved.  I closed the file and then tried opening it directly from Word instead.  I verified the file path was the same as what I was using in the File Manager, but luckily this file had all of my changes.  I then did a Save As to make sure it was saving correctly in the SharePoint folder, and overwrote the file that still had the old time stamp on it.  But that seems to have deleted changes that my teammate made to the file that happened after that timestamp as well, and he was not able to recover his work.

So, what am I doing wrong?  Why is my file not saving properly to my local computer when I'm offline?  Why won't it sync when I go back online?