I've been struggling with moving and deleting a large number of files in SharePoint Online and OneDrive. Every time I try to remove a folder, like 'BIG_SWEATY_BALLS' with about 1,000 files, OneDrive ends up syncing everything back up. I see multiple instances of the same folder appearing on different PCs. It's incredibly frustrating! I've been told to avoid making these large moves, but that can't be a solution for larger organizations. What do companies with many employees do to handle this without losing their sanity?
5 Answers
One of the biggest issues is trying to sync large SharePoint libraries and folders. OneDrive isn't built for handling massive changes all at once, so when you try to move many files, it just doesn't work as intended. It can lead to duplicates or weird syncing behaviors. If possible, avoid syncing large libraries altogether; that might save you some headaches!
Right? Getting users to understand that isn't exactly easy. They just expect it to work like their old file servers!
I've had pretty good luck with SharePoint for smaller teams—2 to 50 people. But I always warn them that they'll need to adjust their workflows. If they try to use it like a regular file server, they'll hit walls just like you described.
That's the issue—people just assume they can keep doing the same things. Their expectations need to shift for it to really work.
Totally! It’s all about how you adapt your processes to fit the platform.
At times, it feels like Microsoft makes moving files overly complicated just to push SharePoint. There's also a lack of guidance on how to set it up right from the start, which only adds to users' struggles with syncing.
Honestly, SharePoint Online and OneDrive were never designed to replace traditional file servers. They work better as collaboration tools rather than heavy-duty file storage systems. For larger businesses, it might be worth looking into Azure for file services instead—it's been much smoother for those setups!
I've seen that too. People think they can just lift and shift everything to SharePoint without adjusting their workflows, which leads to all kinds of issues.
Definitely! Plus, many small businesses get pushed to use SharePoint without knowing the limitations.
From my experience, moving to SharePoint is a full-on project that usually requires retraining users on workflows and permissions; just moving files isn't easy. Microsoft really sells it as a direct file server replacement, but that's a tough sell given the headaches involved!
It's frustrating because the sales pitch doesn’t mention how complex the transition can be. It’s super easy to get started, but it's not a true lift-and-shift.
Exactly! They need to be more clear that using SharePoint effectively means rethinking how the whole organization operates.
Exactly! It seems like SharePoint is often treated like a traditional file server, but it really isn't meant for that kind of usage.