How to disable Files On-Demand in OneDrive MacOS? It's enforced since the last update ...

Anonymous
2022-01-27T12:43:10+00:00

For OneDrive home and business, I cannot disable Files-On-Demand since the last update. This is crucial, I need full access to my files at all time.

What is going on? Why would you enforce Files On-Demand on your customers, isn't it enough to enable it by default? My 70GB of cloud data is not local anymore, sometimes I have no internet, you are locking me away from my files. Also making it impossible for me to do full text searches. Files On-Demand is also too slow, waiting a second to display folder contents is too much when you organize things in deep folder structures.

How I can disable Files On-Demand? Will you please stop knowing the best for your customers? We aren't toddlers. Thanks!

If Files On-Demand is enforced by policy, I will leave your cloud service once and for all.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For business | MacOS

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-01-31T15:12:48+00:00

    Thanks for your suggestion, Mihai. My OneDrive folder was on my internal Mac HD. Perhaps therefore I could not find ".ODContainer-OneDrive". But I found my files – as per KevinWehner's suggestion – here: ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveStandaloneSuite/OneDrive.noindex/OneDrive and moved them to Tresorit as you also suggest.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-01-31T15:09:51+00:00

    Kevin, this reply saved me from Microsoft (I think)! Thank you so much for your help. To make it clear, my solution on Mac was this:

    1. I succesfully (but weirdly enough given the new cloud-based "on-demand" policy) located an offline copy of my files in ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveStandaloneSuite/OneDrive.noindex/OneDrive and copied it "out" to my local Documents folder. I think, but cannot be 100% sure, that all my files are there in their latest version.
    2. Uninstalled the OneDrive app (huge relief – no more intrusion)
    3. Installed and subscribed to privacy-focused Tresorit (https://tresorit.com/). Kind of expensive, but not worth gambling with all your most important data. Set up sync for the local folder with my files (uploads copy to cloud). I also considered Sync.com, pCloud, and Dropbox.
    4. I uninstalled OneDrive on my other devices and installed Tresorit (downloads files to local – if I ask it to).

    Now everything is working (again) – and Microsoft no longer has the power to move, delete, change, sell my data. I will keep the copy of my files on OneDrive (and in other places) for some time in case something turns out to be missing after doing step 1. Later, I will delete the OneDrive copies, so they are only in the Tresorit ecosystem (including the copy on my harddrive and an external backup).

    Thank you to everyone who are voicing their frustration and, especially, to you who provide solutions. And, Microsoft, I am done with you.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-01-31T12:54:56+00:00

    Me and my company will move away from OneDrive if this problem is not solved shortly, not that I think MS care..

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-01-31T09:59:26+00:00

    Hi

    Thanks, this suggestion seems to have worked for me. I have transferred all the files out of that containers folder and created a new folder "Onedrive temporary fix" so that I can work normally from there.

    I have quit the Onedrive app and hopefully Microsoft will sort out this ridiculous mess very soon. If not, I will have to spend more money reactivating my Dropbox account and pay for that as well as my Microsoft 365 subscription.

    Overall, this is a really disappointing performance by Microsoft. I echo all the upset comments from others.

    Bob Egerton

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-01-31T09:21:38+00:00

    Thanks for this, but it didn't work for me. I followed your steps and found the OneDrive.noindex folder with the seemingly intact files inside, I copied them back to my hard drive into a new folder, but each file I tried opening had an error message saying that the file was corrupt or damaged. Fortunately I could recover almost everything from a recent Time Machine backup. No more OneDrive for me. I've moved everything to Google Drive and it's working as OneDrive used to, with the option to keep files saved locally OR in the cloud. MY CHOICE, Microsoft!!

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