Microsoft's OneDrive is the worst cloud storage system I have ever used. Contributing to that experience is its sync issues.
If your OneDrive application is telling you "OneDrive needs your attention" and "There is a sync issue in OneDrive," then click the notification and review the list of files with issues. These issues are usually due to the naming of folders and files.
Naming Issues
- Sync issues apply to both folder and file names
- The first and last characters of the name cannot be periods or spaces
- The following characters are not allowed anywhere in the file name: " * : < > ? / \ |
Solutions
- Rename your files by removing prohibited characters and spaces
- If you have a large amount of files with naming issues, conduct a search for all files via search bar within your OneDrive folder with the characters " * : < > ? / \ | so you can fix them in bulk
- If you are using macOS, select all applicable files, right-click, and click Rename. This will allow you to replace names of files in bulk
- If you don't want to name each file, you can compress large amounts of files into .zip files so the files will not be lost or altered
- If the issue is concerning a merge issue, select the option to copy the files so you can keep both copies
Unfortunately OneDrive is bundled in with certain Office 365 licenses and consequently the cloud storage system of choice for many businesses. It is prone to glitches and server issues. Dropbox Business is my top choice for cloud storage due to its ease of use, intuitiveness, and reliability
