Force sync in OneDrive

This problem is still occurring one year later. There seems no solution in sight. So I down load online and then will the two versions now synch?

Fix the bug. Oh first recreate the bug then fix it. Basic practice. It may be hard so get a clever guy on it until its fixed.

Three hours ago I created a small Excel file on my travel laptop and then moved up to my office onto my heavier PC. Since then I have been trying to get OneDrive to show the file on my "Office" pc.

The file is on the OneDrive server. I can down load it fine but I need to sync any changes.

This is busted. Its been busted for a long while according to this blog. If I cannot trust file sharing software to either work or give a clue as to the problem how can I trust the security of any of Windows 11 products.

As a programmer if you can't maintain existing code you should not be working on new code. Maintenance programming is where you learn the glads and sads about your development tools.

I am going to have to revert to FTP to get a clear simple working way to share files. At some random time my file will pop up in OneDrive but who knows when or why. I ran a team developing production critical software. This is a nightmare. You don't know what is broken or what will break when further releases are made. Like taking a trip on an under tested rocket to a space station.

This is so daft. Microsoft is a huge developer of PC software. Cornerstone of Windows 11 is OneDrive. It doesn't synchronise files. The main thing it needs to do!

So a clue to the maintenance programmers.

For hours I tried all the ideas above here and hit a wall every time so I went into maintenance program mode. Isolate the problem.

My file was created on PC1. It shows on OneDrive online and can be opened in Excel online.

It is not shown on PC2 in OneDrive. 4 hours later it still is not shown but I can see it in OneDrive online on PC2.

Ok download it, then move it to its correct location on my local disk on PC2. Make a small change. Look on PC1 and it has synched. Make a small change on PC1 and then check back on PC 2. It has synched.

So the problem lies in the PC code that finds new files on the server. Now reproduce this on your development system Add some trace code and figure it out. If you can't reproduce it. Find an irate user like me. Ask if I can run some test code for you!

Basic life as a maintenance coder. The life blood of the industry. Fix the little things then all the big things will work.

Here is the way to figure out OneDrive.exe location on Windows 11 PC.

1. Type "onedrive" into Search control on your taskbar - you'll see OneDrive App in the "Best match".
2. Right-click on OneDrive App, in the context menu select second option - "Open file location" command
3. Explorer opens ...\Windws\Start Menu\Programs folder - and you'll see there "OneDrive" - but this is not yet what you need, this only the shortcut - the LNK file, not the EXE.
4. Now right-click on the LNK file and in the context menu open "Properties" (alternatively, select OneDirve.LNK and press Alt+Enter) - this will open properties dialog box (Shortcut tab)
5. You have now in the top section third line "Target:" field - and that is exactly what you need.

On my PC I see there "C:\Users\andre\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\OneDrive.exe", first part (C:\Users\andre) is my user profile folder, represented by %userprofile% variable in my batch file.

Hope this helps - you should see the correct location of the OneDrive.exe file on your PC following the steps above.