Folders Shared with me are syncing as internet shortcut in OneDrive on Windows PC

Anonymous
2024-06-08T04:53:55+00:00

Hi. I had some folders shared from different users in my OneDrive account. I had added the folders to my OneDrive with Add Shortcut to OneDrive button from Shared folders in cloud. The account is logged into a windows pc and every files including the folders shared with my were syncing fine until yesterday. Yesterday night the shared folders were completely removed from the Windows pc and folders are replaced with internet shortcut. This is such a big mess. I have tried unlinking the account and linking it back, changing the location of OneDrive on my windows pc and tried to get a new folder shared to my account and adding it to OneDrive. Nothing works so far. OneDrive has a big part in my daily activities. Please help me resolve this.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2025-03-13T06:07:22+00:00

Here is the statement from the Microsoft OneDrive product group (Redmond USA) about the OneDrive Personal problem:

***This is related to a backend migration we are doing and unfortunately, we don’t fully support syncing shared folders in the case where one user has migrated and the other has not. We’re doing everything possible to accelerate things so that it can be resolved as soon as possible for users of the feature. When the accounts are migrated, there is automated logic that makes them go back to a syncing folder within several days.***I have heard, that shared Folder issue is gone.
The best thing is: WAIT and do nothing

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-05-22T12:03:57+00:00

    What do I know really? But as far as I can make out, there appear to be two (or more) back ends to the one drive system. Different clouds, if you will. Microsoft has some sort of process going on of moving users from one cloud to another. That might all be fine, but file sharing functionality is restricted for users who are on different clouds.

    There doesn't seem to be any way of knowing which cloud you are on, or when you will be moving from one cloud to another. But when either you or somebody who has shared files with you are moved to a different cloud, shared files that you are accessing through file explorer are secretly deleted from your local hard drive and you are only able to access them by downloading them individually over the internet on a case by case basis.

    You may also lose files completely in the transfer process.

    The way to detect which version of the back end your account is on has been documented in this thread a mutitude of times.

    Open OneDrive Web interface

    Click on the cog (top right near your account picture)

    Click on Options

    If the last option listed is "Restore your OneDrive" you are on version 2

    If the last option listed is "Search" you are on version 1

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-05-22T23:29:00+00:00

    Just to add that I also was migrated today.

    I got the email subject: Many files were recently deleted from your OneDrive

    Then I rebooted and OneDrive started processing/ downloading etc.

    It got stuck on "processing" even after a reboot so I deleted the link folder and re-added it and hey presto all my files are back.
    Notice the arrow indicating the files are from somewhere else but they are all locally synced again on my disk.

    Thank you to everyone else who provided updates, it helped me keep the faith!

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-05-23T03:55:14+00:00

    The share folder issue has been fixed for me today. The issue happened to me in March. I consider myself kind of lucky because many other users waited much longer. I observed the same process as described by other people in this post. First, I received an email with the subject: Many files were recently deleted from your OneDrive. Then, I found my OneDrive online has been migrated to the new version. Good luck, everyone. Wishing you get the issue fixed soon.

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-05-23T06:19:48+00:00

    ... and shared folders display again as folders in windows explorer on my computers.

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