OneDrive App Sync Limitation - File Count

Owned by Dan Jakubiak
Last updated: Nov 09, 2023
2 min read

Faculty, staff, and students use the OneDrive App to synchronize both OneDrive and SharePoint to their computer. This app allows users to open OneDrive and SharePoint files right from their File Explorer (Windows) and Finder (macOS) windows.

As of October 2023: ITS has found that the app begins to dramatically slow down while attempting to synchronize over 300,000 files. Once the app has surpassed a file count of 300,000, the synchronization time no longer increases linearly; the app may become stuck in a synchronizing state for days. The initial synchronization should not take more than a few hours.

SharePoint and OneDrive are both a part of Microsoft 365. This allows them to use the same OneDrive application on your computer.

When does this affect me?

The first time a user connects their OneDrive App to their computer, they will see that the Apps states it is “Processing [######] changes”. At this time the App is creating ‘dummy’ files to occupy your folders on your computer. These files can be thought of as shortcuts to your files out in the cloud. These allow you to double click on something recognizable in order to download the file to begin editing it, all without any extra effort on your part. When you first connect your computer to your account in the OneDrive App, the app does this for every file in your OneDrive and any connected SharePoint sites.

As of October 2023: ITS has found that the app begins to dramatically slow down while attempting to synchronize over 300,000 files. Once the app has surpassed a file count of 300,000, the synchronization time no longer increases linearly; the app may become stuck in a synchronizing state for days. The initial synchronization should not take more than a few hours. If your computer does successfully complete the initial migration with >300,000 files, it may still operate very slowly due while trying to keep all the files up-to-date with the cloud.

The OneDrive app functions sequentially. If you rename a folder and then rename a file, your computer will send the folder name-change first. This remains true during the synchronization state: if you work on a file while your computer is performing a large synchronization task, your computer must finish the synchronization before sending your changes to the cloud. Therefore, once the app is keeping track of too many files, the app and the user experience become very sluggish and undesirable.

This 300,000 file limit is the total number of files the OneDrive App is keeping in sync with the cloud. This includes:

  • Your Personal OneDrive Files

  • All “Add Shortcut to OneDrive” folders/files

    • SharePoint sites

    • SharePoint Document Libraries

    • Individual Folders

  • All “Sync” folders/files

Whether you have one SharePoint site with 300,000 files, or it’s the combination of your OneDrive (personal and private) files and your SharePoint sites, you will reach this 300,000 barrier.

What matters is how many files the OneDrive app is attempting to keep up-to-date with the cloud, not where the files are or what kind of files they are.

How to work with this limitation.

Reduce file count and/or follow this guide: Archival SharePoint Sites

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