Yesterday I started using OneDrive and when I want to access a shared folder through the shortcut created in my OneDrive folder, instead of opening the folder in the file explorer, as it has always happened, it takes me to my browser.
It really bothers me, because in that shared folder there is almost 1GB of data, much of it including scripts that need to be run from the computer directly.
How has this CRITICAL defect not been resolved after 4 months of this issue being raised? Microsoft needs to hire better software engineers..
This was extremely difficult and frustrating to deal with but I finally managed to figure out a workaround:
- Remove the shortcut from 'My files' and delete any references to it locally and online (just to be safe because god forbid anything Microsoft makes actually works).
- Before linking your account in the OneDrive desktop app (if you already linked it then unlink it) get the other person to share the folder with you, and if they already did then just start from scratch and get them to create another folder to share (because apparantly unsharing folder/files is too complicated to implement for Microsoft),
- Then while still on the webapp go to 'Shared' -> Click the ellipsis button (...) for the shared folder -> Click 'Add shortcut to My files'.
- Then finally go back to OneDrive desktop app and link your account.
This made the Shared Folder on File Explorer have the Type as 'File folder' instead of 'Internet Shortcut'. Now, rinse and repeat for any future folders that get shared with your account.
Basically if you 'Add shortcut to My files' after already linking your OneDrive account to your desktop then it will have the Type be shown as Internet Shortcut, whereas if you do it before linking your account to the desktop app it will behave as a File folder.
After spending countless hours banging my head on the keyboard deleting/creating the same Shared Folder, and not to mention that my family member did not even recieve the 1TB storage because they were using a gmail account instead of an outlook/hotmail account (even though they still let me send the invite without any warnings or anything that only outlook/hotmail accounts can utilize family benifits), I wanted to post this to potentially help others and to mainly rant about Microsoft's incompetence and extremely poor quality of service!