OneDrive shared folder shortcut stopped working as expected

Anonymous
2025-02-23T05:20:55+00:00

Update #2:

Found another thread that seem to be talking about the same issue: Issue with OneDrive Desktop App - Shared Folders Became Web Links

But none of them seem to provide solution to this problem.

Update:

Looks like there is already a post about this exact same issue; I don't know how I missed it when I was searching for existing issues. Anyway, here is the link: OneDrive shared folders are now a url shortcut (I need to fix it) - Microsoft Community

Found another one: Folders Shared with me are syncing as internet shortcut in OneDrive on - Microsoft Community

Looks like the issue is still active and there hasn't been any solution to it yet.

Hi there,

I have a shared folder from someone that I collaborate with and I use "Add shortcut to My Files" option so add the shortcut so that I can access it from my Explorer. This has been working great until yesterday. Starting yesterday, I stopped seeing the folder completely from my explorer; instead, I see an entry with the same name with type "Internet Shortcut". When I open it, a new browser instance opens and takes me to the OneDrive website. On the web interface, it opens the folder correctly.

Here are some screenshots:

In shared, I see the folder named "1-...", which is the folder that was shared to me. I then click the ... to open the menu and click "Add shortcut to My Files".

The folder is added correctly in My Files but it has the "shortcut" looking icon attached to the folder icon. Click the link takes me to the folder correctly.

In the explorer, however, it's showing up as "Internet Shortcut".

And therefore, I cannot access the content of that folder directly.

This seems to be a behavior change that I cannot rollback. It was very useful to be able to access the shared folder from explorer so I can read/write files directly from the app instead of having to download/download. Is this expected change?

Expected behavior:

A folder is created with name matching the shared folder name. Opening the folder shows the content of the folder.

Files can be read and write as if they were local files.

Actual behavior:

An "Internet shortcut" is created. Opening the shortcut takes me to the OneDrive page.

Files cannot be read and write directly.

Thanks in advance.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-04-26T03:02:20+00:00

    I have an Access database that four local food pantries use. I use OneDrive for the daily offsite backup for them. The OneDrive shortcuts for 3 of the 4 sites stopped working in late February. The one that was working stopped on 4/14/25, but strangely the other three sites have started working intermittently. Some days yes, some days no. WTH?

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-04-12T04:17:14+00:00

    It doesn't work for me at all. I just don't understand what took them so long to fix such an easy problem. Are they using Dumb AI to code now?

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-04-11T16:57:31+00:00

    Yes, which is why I put a complaint in with BBB. And you asked what can BBB do, they can help facilitate someone higher up at Microsoft rather then just the person monitoring the community thread of this massive topic we are all on here about.

    Update from my BBB complaint. I got a response from Microsoft!!!! It is from their Escalation Support department. I have a over the phone meeting with them next Monday at 11am.

    Update ........

    I have just been on my onedrive online. I removed the shortcut from "My files" and then went to "Shared" and added the Shared folder as a shortcut to My Files again.

    When I let it sync back to my PC in File Explorer (took a few mins) it is now working again. It seems they have either fixed it or their migration process has reached my account.

    I hope this works for you and others also. 🙏

    Raks

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-04-11T16:46:25+00:00

    Yes, which is why I put a complaint in with BBB. And you asked what can BBB do, they can help facilitate someone higher up at Microsoft rather then just the person monitoring the community thread of this massive topic we are all on here about.

    Update from my BBB complaint. I got a response from Microsoft!!!! It is from their Escalation Support department. I have a over the phone meeting with them next Monday at 11am.

    I wish it works. I feel they'll likely ask for patience or they'll just prioritize your account. I am happy if you can get the latter, though, will be well deserved (to solve your individual case because you worked harder than us).

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  5. Anonymous
    2025-04-11T16:20:12+00:00

    Hi Janet,

    That's great news. I really do hope you get some positive news from MS on Monday to fix this issue.

    I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a resolution that could help us all. 😊

    Thanks

    Rak

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