Force sync in OneDrive

Anonymous
2024-02-13T08:24:30+00:00

Is there any way of forcing OneDrive to sync? Let's say a user uploads a document on one client, and user 2 wants to access that document immediately on his client, but onedrive haven't synced that folder yet.

Is there a way to force a manual sync? Ideally with like a .bat file or something that i can pin to the taskbar that the user can just click to run just to speed up the process

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | Other | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-01-01T07:36:33+00:00

    I agree with the pages and pages of frustrated (but dedicated Microsoft users) that say why can't we have simple "Sync Now" button but alas if you click the OneDrive icon on the right hand side of the task bar, then click Settings, then click "Pause Syncing" (for say 2 hours) and then immediately click "Resume Syncing" and it will fire up and you will see your changed files updating. I find photos get updated immediately.

    However I also want to sync other folders and files from my C: drive without having that file sit inside the Documents folder (which OneDrive automatically syncs). So I use the MKLINK cmd (syntax below).

    eg. mklink /J "%UserProfile%\OneDrive\mystuff" "C:\mystuff"

    It works for a while then stops working ... it's incredibly frustrating. Does anyone else have a solution please to this (an alternative to using MKLINK?

    Oh, and if anybody still lives that created XTREE GOLD can you please update it so it runs on MS Windows. Happy to crowd fund!

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-12-28T14:02:38+00:00

    Simplest solution for me:

    1. Pause syncing
    2. Resume synging

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-12-26T19:10:35+00:00

    Does not work for me:

    C:\Users\willi>cd %userprofile%\OneDrive

    C:\Users\willi\OneDrive>onedrive.exe /sync

    'onedrive.exe' is not recognized as an internal or external command,

    operable program or batch file.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-12-18T22:29:21+00:00

    Worked perfectly. It immediately started syncing after following all of the steps and hitting the pause button the second time (seems counter intuitive but worked). No hammer required.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-11-14T21:59:28+00:00

    You don't have to wait for 2 hours before you sync your files - you can (and probably should) restart OneDrive immediately by launching the OneDrive app from your taskbar after you stopped it.

    Please note - if you want to ensure that files are in sync both on your desktop and laptop - do this on both of them, starting on the PC where you actually made your latest changes.

    On top of that, you can avoid all these manual mouse clicks and automate the initiation of the sync process with a batch file to first stop the OneDrive app and then restart it again, I already posted such solution in this thread, I hope that there is no need to repeat it ad nauseum.

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