How to check if the OneDrive is permanently or often syncing

Issue
If your OneDrive is often or permanently syncing, this can cause issues such as the following:

• Files that are in the OneDrive FYI - My Imports folder are not syncing and OneDrive seems to be stuck and is continually syncing. The files keep trying to be re-added into FYI.
  
  
• When opening a document in FYI to edit it, an error displays "Sorry, we couldn't find "https://...". Is it possible it was moved, renamed or deleted?"
  or
  "My imports cannot finish syncing. Unable to retrieve documents; OneDrive resource locked..."
  

Cause
If your OneDrive is often or permanently syncing, this can be caused by the following:

• A slow internet.
• If you are syncing a very large number of documents, or if the documents that are syncing are very large (there is a file size limit of 500MB for a file that can be imported via your FYI - My imports folder).
• Trying to sync a whole directory across the network.
• Desktops that have been cloned for easy deployment, or MYOB installed with the demo files located within the OneDrive for backup.
• Historical files across a practice being synced across everyone's OneDrive for local access.

When opening documents via OneDrive, FYI does not have control of when a document has been sent to OneDrive and cannot check it has been sent. Syncing large files or a large number of files is not something that OneDrive is designed to handle.

If your OneDrive is often syncing for reasons outside of the typical FYI functions, this needs to be resolved.

We recommend that you observe the OneDrive icon (the clou on the right-hand side of your windows toolbar) to check if it is often syncing or even permanently syncing. If this is the case, you can investigate which files have been added to OneDrive and if they were added by mistake. See below Step 1 - Check if the OneDrive is Permanently or Often Syncing.

Solution
The following steps have reduced the frequency of the issue occurring, however, it will not guarantee the issue will not ever occur. This is because it can also be caused by slow internet or a backlog of files to sync within each user's OneDrive.

If you are syncing a large number of documents, it is likely that these will mostly be historical documents. Users can change the setting in their profile for Preview Office Via OneDrive. This determines how the Preview function displays Office documents. Refer to Previewing a Document and Setting Defaults and Filing Defaults for your own Login - My Settings.

Step 1 - Check if the OneDrive is Permanently or Often Syncing

Observe the OneDrive icon (the cloud on the right-hand side of your windows toolbar). This will show as in the image below to indicate it is not syncing.

If the OneDrive icon shows as spinning, this indicates it is syncing.

We recommend that you observe the OneDrive icon to check if it is often syncing or even permanently syncing.

If OneDrive is often syncing or permanently syncing, click on the icon to display the files to investigate which have been added to OneDrive and if they were added by mistake.

Step 2 - Make sure your OneDrive is in sync and says "Up to date"

If you are syncing a large number of documents to your OneDrive, for example, if you are syncing documents separate from those from FYI, this will be a contributing factor to the error.

You can hover over the OneDrive icon on the right-hand side of the windows toolbar and check this says "Up to date".

 
If OneDrive is often syncing other files and not able to keep up, our strong recommendation is to stop syncing any other folder locations as follows:

1. Open the OneDrive app on your desktop computer.
2. From the OneDrive options menu, click Account.
3. For any other folder locations being synced containing a large number of files, select "Stop sync".
   
   

Note: If OneDrive is having sync issues with documents being queued, this will affect the editing of Office documents on the desktop from FYI. If the above steps have not solved the issue, then please contact your IT consultant to investigate further and rectify.

Step 3 - Set the FYI - My Edits folder to keep all files locally (Always keep on this Device)

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. In the navigation pane expand your OneDrive.
3. Right-click the folder FYI - My Edits.
4. Select Always keep on this Device.
   
   

Step 4 - Disable OneDrive backups

1. Open the OneDrive app on your desktop computer.
2. From the OneDrive options menu, click Backup.
3. Disable any Backups that may have been turned on.
   
   

If the issue is still occurring

Check the Files Needing Attention (in Excel. Word or PowerPoint)

1. As Excel is the likely to be the cause, open the desktop version of Excel. You may also need to check this in the same way Word or PowerPoint.
2. In File - Open, check for any files in that application that are showing as Files Needing Attention.
   Refer to the Microsoft article Files Needing Attention FAQ.
3. From Files Needing Attention, you can open the file and re-save, or, you can discard the changes completely.
4. Try editing a document again

We have had one or two users where the issue is still occurring. In this case, the issue can be solved by closing OneDrive and reopening it.

1. Close your OneDrive by selecting the OneDrive icon (the cloud on the right-hand side of your windows toolbar).
2. Click Help & Settings and select Close OneDrive.
3. Reopen OneDrive by searching for "OneDrive" in the Windows search.
4. Then select and reopen the OneDrive app by clicking it.
5. Try editing a document again.

For more information, refer to the Microsoft forum article https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_excel-mso_mac-mso_365hp/since-last-update-files-saving-to-onedrive-cloud/8cc8d398-ad53-4746-b258-dde91a87ba1e?messageId=9ff47f6d-330d-48a2-aa88-6f292c521985&tm=1598030791275