Sync Failures in Microsoft OneDrive

Symptoms of Sync Failure

Usually the most obvious symptom of sync failure in OneDrive is a red "X" superimposed over the icons of OneDrive files or folders, as in this example:

There may be other error dialogs, some more or less precise as to what the cause is. The following steps are meant as general guidelines for resolving sync issues.

Suggestions for troubleshooting sync failure

  • Quit and relaunch the OneDrive app.
  • Restart your computer. (This is especially true if you have operating system or Office updates that recently installed)
  • If specific files or folders refuse to sync, check the length of the file path as well as the names of affected folders or files
    • File paths in OneDrive are limited to 255 characters. Deep folder structures and excessively long filenames may potentially exceed this limit. Adjust the names of files or folders to fall within the imposed limits.

       

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