{"id":67937,"date":"2025-03-06T10:33:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T09:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/67937\/onedrive-shared-folders-are-only-displayed-as-a-link-url-file\/"},"modified":"2025-03-10T20:22:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T19:22:50","slug":"onedrive-shared-folders-are-only-displayed-as-a-link-url-file","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/67937\/onedrive-shared-folders-are-only-displayed-as-a-link-url-file\/","title":{"rendered":"OneDrive: shared folders are only displayed as a link (*.url file)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From one day to the next, the problem has arisen that folders shared in OneDrive, sometimes also called <em>Shared folde<\/em>r, only appear as an Internet link. The internet link is a small file with the extension <em><strong>*.url<\/strong><\/em>. The file name corresponds to the name of the shared directory in OneDrive.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of content<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/67937\/onedrive-shared-folders-are-only-displayed-as-a-link-url-file\/#Video\" >Video<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/67937\/onedrive-shared-folders-are-only-displayed-as-a-link-url-file\/#Problem_shared_folders_are_no_longer_synchronised_due_to_url_file\" >Problem: shared folders are no longer synchronised due to url file<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/67937\/onedrive-shared-folders-are-only-displayed-as-a-link-url-file\/#Solution_to_the_problem\" >Solution to the problem<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/67937\/onedrive-shared-folders-are-only-displayed-as-a-link-url-file\/#Final_remark\" >Final remark<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Video\"><\/span>Video<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WRBpApDWacI?si=KDHFixuq-Be3Od2T\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Problem_shared_folders_are_no_longer_synchronised_due_to_url_file\"><\/span>Problem: shared folders are no longer synchronised due to url file<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>This means that the files and subdirectories of the <a href=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/26128\/vmware-where-are-shared-folders-in-linux\/\">shared folder<\/a> are no longer downloaded and synchronised. If you click on the url file, OneDrive opens in the browser and you only get the web view\/online view of OneDrive. There you can then also access all files in the shared folder, but this is extremely impractical for normal <a title=\"3-month deadline for travel expenses\/per diems\" href=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/8982\/3-monatsfrist-bei-reisekosten-verpflegungspauschalen\/\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"18\">working<\/a> on the files and cannot be a permanent state.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_67930\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-67930\" style=\"width: 523px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-67930\" src=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/onedrive-shared-folder-appears-only-as-url-file.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of the *.url file (internet link) to a shared folder\" width=\"523\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/onedrive-shared-folder-appears-only-as-url-file.png 523w, https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/onedrive-shared-folder-appears-only-as-url-file-300x123.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 523px) 100vw, 523px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-67930\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">shared folder only as an internet link (*.url file)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you look at the url files with a text editor, you will see that they only contain the link to OneDrive-Live, with a few parameters:<\/p>\n<pre><code>[InternetShortcut]\r\nURL=https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/redir.aspx?cid=3739fkdg0c98901a&amp;resid=ad9ca0477877456sdjf2dsf139dksb5d2&amp;CallerScenarioId=LinkifiedSPOShortcut-Prod&amp;CallerId=Sync-Windows\r\nIconIndex=4\r\nIconFile=C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\shell32.dll<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In the online view, you can find the folders that have been shared with you under &#8220;<em>Shared<\/em>&#8221; or &#8220;<em>Shared<\/em>&#8220;. There you can normally add the shared folders for synchronisation via &#8220;Add shortcut to My files&#8221; or &#8220;Add shortcut&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_67932\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-67932\" style=\"width: 956px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-67932\" src=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/onedrive-shows-only-add-shortcut-to-my-files.png\" alt=\"Screenshot OneDrive web view Add shortcut\" width=\"956\" height=\"332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/onedrive-shows-only-add-shortcut-to-my-files.png 956w, https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/onedrive-shows-only-add-shortcut-to-my-files-300x104.png 300w, https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/onedrive-shows-only-add-shortcut-to-my-files-768x267.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 956px) 100vw, 956px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-67932\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Under Shared you can only add shortcuts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There used to be a separate sync button for this in the online view, but it seems to have disappeared in the meantime.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_67934\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-67934\" style=\"width: 928px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-67934\" src=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/onedrive-missing-sync-button.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of old online view of OneDrive with sync button\" width=\"928\" height=\"258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/onedrive-missing-sync-button.png 928w, https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/onedrive-missing-sync-button-300x83.png 300w, https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/onedrive-missing-sync-button-768x214.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-67934\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sync button no longer exists<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, attempts to delete the URL file and then add the shared directory again to enable synchronization failed.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Solution_to_the_problem\"><\/span>Solution to the problem<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>To be completely honest, we have not yet found a real solution or workaround for the problem and since we are dependent on it for our work, we had to switch to an alternative synchronisation solution, such as GoogleDrive, without further ado. So if you have or had the same problem and have found a solution, please let us know or leave a comment.<\/p>\n<p>We were able to narrow down the problem to the extent that it only originates from one account. Both accounts, i.e. <em>Account A<\/em>, which shares the original folder, and <em>Account B<\/em>, which is the recipient of the shared folder, use <strong>Microsoft 365 Family<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Account A<\/em> user was able to share further folders and in another test account the folders were displayed normally and synchronized normally and not displayed as an Internet link.<\/p>\n<p>For <em>Account B<\/em> users, however, these folders appear as internet links (url). The other way round, i.e. <em>Account B<\/em> user shares a folder with <em>Account A<\/em> user, also resulted in only one <em>url<\/em> file being added to <em>Account A<\/em> user, which clearly indicates that the problem originates from <em>Account B<\/em> user.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, no other settings could be found for <em>Account B<\/em> user in OneDrive to solve the problem.<\/p>\n<p>There is a slight suspicion that Microsoft no longer wants this sharing and synchronisation to be possible via OneDrive in the Family plan and would rather keep it available for business plans. Of course, the fact that it still works for user B speaks against this. But perhaps Microsoft is just starting a test balloon with randomly selected accounts to see what effect it has and how big the outcry is.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_remark\"><\/span>Final remark<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>So you can see from all the speculation that we don&#8217;t yet have a plan for how to solve the problem. It starts from an account. It happened overnight. And it seems to be down to Microsoft OneDrive. Our hope now is that the problem will be resolved overnight, perhaps through internal updates in OneDrive, as we would like to continue using this useful OneDrive function.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OneDrive now only displays shared folders as internet links and no longer synchronises them. This is a small URL file. Shared folders can therefore only be displayed and edited in the online view of OneDrive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1555],"tags":[1703,1599],"class_list":["post-67937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-software-en","tag-microsoft-en","tag-onedrive-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi-blog.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}