Invalid Request when Add shortcut to OneDrive from SharePoint

Lee, Rosy 0 Reputation points
2026-05-29T14:06:21.4966667+00:00

Recently, we have observed that an increasing number of users in our company are using the "Add shortcut to OneDrive" button in SharePoint Online. However, many of them encounter an "Invalid Request" error without any clear reason.

We have already checked common factors such as permissions, file/folder names, and path length, but none of these seem to be the cause, and the issue still persists.

What makes it more confusing is that the problem only affects some users, while others are able to create shortcuts successfully under the same conditions. At this moment, we are unable to identify the root cause.

Additionally, we inspected the issue using the browser developer tools (F12) and found that the error occurs during the POST request to the API.

User's image

Below is the result when the shortcut is successfully created:

User's image

Could anyone advise on how to resolve this issue or share any similar experiences? This has become a significant problem for us, as it impacts user adoption and training for OneDrive and SharePoint.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For business | Windows

2 answers

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  1. AI answer

    2026-05-29T14:06:42.4133333+00:00

    The context only documents one relevant platform behavior: for a given SharePoint Online document library, users cannot both sync the library and also use Add shortcut to OneDrive/My files for folders in that same library.

    Specifically, when a user has already created a shortcut to a folder from a SharePoint Online library in OneDrive, attempting to sync that same library (or vice versa) is unsupported and leads to errors. This is by design:

    • A SharePoint document library cannot be both:
      • synced via the OneDrive sync app (Sync), and
      • exposed via Add shortcut to My files / Add shortcut to OneDrive.

    To mitigate issues related to shortcuts:

    1. For affected users, remove either:
      • the existing OneDrive sync for that SharePoint library, or
      • the existing shortcut(s) created via Add shortcut to OneDrive/My files.
    2. After removing one of the two, retry the operation (either re‑sync the library or re‑add the shortcut, but not both for the same library).
    3. If the organization wants to avoid shortcut usage entirely and rely only on sync, a SharePoint/OneDrive admin can disable the feature tenant‑wide: 
         Set-SPOTenant -DisableAddShortcutsToOneDrive $True

    Because the platform does not allow simultaneous use of both mechanisms on the same library, ensuring that each user uses only one of them per library is the supported configuration and avoids these shortcut‑related failures.

    References:

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  2. Ian-Ng 14,145 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-05-29T16:28:06.9666667+00:00

    Hi @Lee, Rosy, 

    Thank you for the detailed information. 

    Since the same SharePoint folder can be added successfully by some users but fails for others, this does not look like a general folder issue. It is more likely related to user-specific OneDrive state, permission context, or an existing shortcut/sync conflict. Microsoft’s guidance for this feature also confirms that users need Edit access to the folder, only folders can be added, and shortcut limits apply.  

    As first checks, I would suggest: 

    1/ Confirm the affected user has Edit permission on the exact folder 

    • Please verify that the affected user has Edit access to that specific folder, not just access to the site or library in general. Only folders the user can edit can be added as shortcuts.  
    • If needed, you can ask the site owner or SharePoint admin to confirm the affected user’s effective permission on that folder directly. 

    2/ Check whether the same folder was already added before, or whether the library is already being synced 

    • You should also check if that exact folder already appears in the user’s OneDrive > My files as a shortcut, or whether the parent SharePoint library is already being synced in File Explorer.  
    • Users cannot add the same folder again, cannot add multiple folders at the same time, and existing shortcut/sync relationships can cause confusion when testing. 

    3/ Confirm the user can create a normal test folder in their own OneDrive root 

    • Before retrying the shortcut action, ask the effected users to go to their OneDrive root and create a simple test folder, for example TestingShortCut. 
    • If they cannot create a normal folder in their own OneDrive, that would point more to a OneDrive account-state issue rather than the SharePoint folder itself.

    Since your F12 trace shows the failure happens on the POST request that creates the shortcut in the user’s OneDrive, if the issue continues after these checks, I recommend opening a support ticket from the Microsoft 365 admin center. Because multiple users in your tenant are affected, working directly with a SharePoint support agent should help save time and reduce further interruption to user workflow. 

    I hope the information above is helpful. Should you need any further assistance or clarification, please feel free to let me know. Wishing you all the best with the next steps in your investigation.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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