OneDrive Synchronization can be a quick and easy way to open and save documents to SharePoint…until it isn’t. In fact, by synchronizing a document library, SharePoint becomes very similar to any other drive in your computer. However, there are some gotchas that everyone should be aware of.
Pay close attention to the blue cloud in your system tray. That cloud is the best indicator of OneDrive health. If you find that it never shows “Up To Date” (cursor over cloud), then you probably have a problem.
Here are some tips to make OneDrive work better.
1. Regularly stop synch for Matters that you no longer need
- Click on the blue cloud => More => Settings => Account
- You may have to wait for your list of synchronized files to show up. When they do, here is what they will look like:
- Click Stop Sync for all matters you no longer need. Then wait….
- When all the icons next to the matters disappear, then you should pause sync (I use two hours) to lock in your changes.
- Then when OneDrive shows that it is paused, you can select resume from main menu again.
2. MAJOR: Never rename a file until it shows that it is initially sync’d.
- Many people are in the habit of dragging an email into SharePoint, then renaming the email. This can create a database discrepancy.
- To synchronize files, your system needs a unique SharePoint and Local ID for the file.
- If you rename a file before synchronization is complete, then either SharePoint or Windows will get confused resulting in a constant sync status
3. Limit Folder Depth
- SharePoint is a website and files are addressed by URL.
- Internet standards have a hard limit of 256 Characters which include the site name (ie., https://[tenant name].sharepoint.com), plus all subfolder names separated by “/”, plus the file name.
- So, if you have a file name 1.pdf, but 1.pdf is in a subfolder with three or four parent folders, and each parent folder has a lot of characters, then you may have a problem even though the file name is short.
- The best practice is to limit folder names to the minimum (ie., 01 – Client Insurance) and to keep your folder structure flat.
- For example, you may have a discovery folder with subfolders for who discovery is produced to. Then you may have a subfolder with the date produced. Then you may have all the documents produced within their own folder structure under the recipients name. Then if you have to produce files from one party to another party, you then pickup another additional layer of folders.
- Some work arounds that limit the above practice is to create a single zip file with the documents produced rather than copy and pasting from another location.
- You may also consider creating a separate document library with produced files to keep your working folders to a minimum.
- Finally, you could just use the hyperlink feature to simply link to the original location. For example, if files produced by Defendant A are at URL A, when you produce those files to Defendant B, instead of copy and paste into Defendant B’s folders, just use a hyperlink to link to the files saved in Defendant A’s file.
4. If the blue cloud shows “Up to Date”, but folders show that they are still synching, then you probably have a hidden system file in the mix
- I will admit, finding these files is complicated, but not impossible
- First, open the root folder for the matter that shows it is still synching
- Second, click the View Tab in Windows File Explorer
- Third, select Options => View on the Right
- Fourth, select Show Hidden Files and Folders and un-check the box to “Hide Protected operating….” files
- Now, close Folder Options and put your cursor in the File Explorer search box to Open the Search Tools Menu
- Use the Size option to search for “Tiny” files. An file starting with “~$” should be deleted. They are temporary and will clog up the sync feature.
- Shortly after deleting those files, parent folders should show synchronized.
5. Free Up Space so that you are not synching entire documents.
- When you add or edit a document to the shared location, the document is fully synchronized.
- When someone later edits that same document, the document has to be synchronized to your computer again. This takes time and bandwidth.
- OneDrive does everything in series. This means that changes are done in the order that they occur across all Matters. So a change by another user in one Matter will prevent a change you made in another Matter from being uploaded.
- So, to speed this up, regularly “Free Up Space” by right clicking on the Matter folder (this gets everything), or a sub folder or file, and select “Free Up Space”. All locally stored documents will be replaced by placeholders, the icon will change from a green check to a cloud symbol.
- If you follow this guidance, you can synch hundreds of Matter and complete the sync in seconds and your changes will be uploaded faster.
6. Don’t wait until you are in a crisis to groom OneDrive.
Waiting until you have a pending hearing is not a recipe for success. Make this a normal part of your work week.
If you keep the system groomed, then synchronization should be fast and you can feel comfortable that you have all the files that you need to do your job.