OneDrive Sync Issues

[Matthew Strickland]

Hi all,

I am having endless sync issues with staff trying to sync their personal school related files using OneDrive for Business, for no obvious reason.

Inside the limits of file naming, file/folder length, file size and type I get sync issues.

So for example a folder may have a red x, but everything inside it is green ticked.

Or a folder contains a mix of Word and PDF documents, all suitably named and only 1 or 2 MB in size yet a few wont sync.

If I use Google Drive or Dropbox I don't appear to get these issues, or they at least resolve after some time.

Anyone else using OneDrive for Business successfully across many users? Is it (still) a poor client sync tool?

Matt

[gre...@staff.cbhs.school.nz]

Which OneDrive for Business sync client are you using? -

a) the original Office 2013 sync client;
b) the original Office 2013 sync client with the ~start-of-2016 windows update applied;
c) the OneDrive for Business Next Generation Sync Client.

We had a bunch of specific users with sync issues with (a) - typically sync process never completes; in general, this seems to have been successfully addressed by (b) - noting that each user must repair (full resync) following the update to get the benefit of the fix.
We have not yet tried (c) en masse as it wasn't available for Windows 8.1 until quite recently.

- Ben.

[Sam McNeill]

What version of Windows are you running?

My guys say Windows 10 works the best, followed by Win7 - but Win 8/8.1 no good at all

[Matthew Strickland]

Pretty sure I am running all of the above, but mostly Office 2016 and Windows 10.

So its really easy to check the version, just open the app and click help>about right? yeah.

Anyway, My version is 16.0.4339.1000 and even I have sync issues.

I am going to try a test Windows 10 Deployment and try the 'OneDrive' next gen app with an O365 account (not the business app and not a Microsoft account)

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Get-started-in-Windows-615391c4-2bd3-4aae-a42a-858262e42a49

With the annoying issue of my email address being both a Microsoft account and an O365 account which I hope the OneDrive Next Gen can determine.

Matt

[Matthew Strickland]

Just as a followup I'm going to test my own account with the next gen sync tool:

PC1: Windows 8.1, Office 2016, OneDrive installed (version 17.3.6378.329)

PC2: Windows 10, Office 2016, OneDrive installed (version 17.3.6302.225)

I'm not syncing any sharepoint libraries or outlook group folders so 'Onedrive for Business' has been removed (disabled in Office 2016 setup)

So far everything has synced for me, but often when starting from scratch this is the case.

Ill look at the admx deployment later on for staff

Matt

[Matthew Strickland]

Hi all,

The Next Gen Sync tool appears much more reliable. Have it running with a few staff and its working across different devices (for those who want local sync)

It will be interesting to see if it copes with eventual password changes (domain change password, Azure Connect Sync, then use a different non-domain device)

The OneDrive for Business was slow or difficult for credential changes to come up.

Long term (like for students) we probably wont sync, but online apps are still a little restrictive particularly in Excel and OneNote I have found.

Matt

On Tuesday, 5 April 2016 10:35:54 UTC+12, Matthew Strickland wrote:

[gre...@staff.cbhs.school.nz]

"Long term (like for students) we probably wont sync, but online apps are still a little restrictive particularly in Excel and OneNote I have found."

What's the relationship between syncing and using desktop Office applications?

Aside: we do:
Staff on sole-use computers: sync
Staff when on shared/lab computers: don't sync
Students on their personal devices: sync if they wish
Students on school (shared/lab) computers: don't sync

- Ben.

On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 11:46:32 AM UTC+12, Matthew Strickland wrote:

Hi all,

[Matthew Strickland]

Hi Ben,

Identical to you - for single use device (teacher laptop or student byod) its optional. Shared/lab sync disabled.

No direct relationship between Sync and Office apps, its more sync and non-office apps (or apps that don't natively connect to office365)

Or a storage location if say desktop is redirected (so stuff dragged to desktop appears on multiple devices, or is accessible)

Matt