I'm working in an engineering company where we heavily rely on Teams and SharePoint, and it's becoming a nightmare with OneDrive sync. We manage around 15–20 projects simultaneously, each containing 40,000 to 80,000 files. We've encouraged team members to sync only the active projects, but a lot of people still end up syncing everything for supposed local access, leading to chaos. Just recently, a colleague returned from a month off to find her computer causing sync mayhem, which ended with us needing to re-image her laptop. We even disable the sync option but let users add shortcuts instead—Microsoft claims this is better, but the sync issues persist. The frustration is so severe that our CEO is considering migrating to another platform. Any suggestions on how we might tackle these sync problems effectively?
5 Answers
I've found that suggesting users access files through the desktop apps instead of syncing has reduced the number of sync headaches. Showing them how to use features like 'Open in Desktop App' can help too. It's a workaround to keep them from syncing entire libraries but letting them work efficiently.
Honestly, training users isn't always enough. If you have a lot of them, some will just go rogue with syncing. The painful truth might be switching to a different platform. If SharePoint's not meeting your needs, consider looking into alternatives like Egnyte. It worked wonders for us when we faced similar frustrations.
I've heard mixed reviews about Egnyte, though. Does it really handle large file numbers better?
I totally get your frustration—I've been there too! In our case, we ended up reverting back to network drives for teams that really struggled, like our design department. It just simplified things. Have you thought about going back to that, at least for those that need it most?
For large file workloads, we found success with Azure File Shares paired with Azure File Sync. This way, you have a local cache that speeds up access for frequently used files while still keeping older files in the cloud. It can drastically cut down on sync issues. As for accountants syncing everything? That's a classic case of 'just in case'—people think they need it all!
Exactly! It's always about the 'what if' scenario. But they really don’t need all those files just taking up space.
So true! It might just be a habit they need to break.
At the end of the day, you might have to accept that there isn't a perfect solution. Awareness and user training are key—remind them of the limits with syncing files and encourage other methods of access to the SharePoint libraries. Just be upfront that syncing everything isn't an option anymore.
It does, but you’ll still want to evaluate how it fits your specific workflow.