Two separate folders for the same OneDrive Account on Mac

Question

Two separate folders for the same OneDrive Account on Mac

Amelung, Till 0

I am using OneDrive in a business frame work, version 26.195.1006, on a Macbook with Apple M5 chips running macOS Tahoe 26.6.2. I have been having synchronisation issues with OneDrive the whole year 2026 which I was able to resolve by unlinking and re-linking my account in the app. Starting this week, I found that files and folders I created outside Microsoft apps tended to not show up inside said apps, i.e. if I created a new folder in my OneDrive using finder this folder was then unavailable for storing MS Word files from within Word. The reasons seems to be that in the CloudStorage folder in macOS there are two separate folders for OneDrive. One is labelled "OneDrive" and then my institutions name, the other carries an additional date from this week (28.10.2026) in parentheses in its name. The former has the OneDrive logo as the folder icon, the latter has a regular macOS folder icon.

Operations from within the MS apps point to the folder with the OneDrive icon. Whenever I start file system operations outside MS apps, these seem to point to the one with the date added. Shortcuts within finder, e.g. the one added to the sidebar automatically but also shortcuts added manually, seem to point to this folder, too. This is highly annoying. Searching the web and Microsoft help sites doesn't seem to get me anywhere. Solutions point to using multiple accounts which I am not (not anymore that is following synchronisation issues earlier this year).

Can anyone help?

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Answer 1

Hi Amelung,

The folder with the OneDrive icon is the live sync location, which is why Word and the other Microsoft apps use it. The folder with the date (28.10.2026) and the regular icon is most likely a leftover from the unlink and re-link of your account. Your Finder sidebar entry and manual shortcuts still point to that leftover folder, so anything you create in Finder lands there instead of in the synced location.

Please follow these steps in order:

In Finder, press Cmd+Shift+G and open ~/Library/CloudStorage.
Open the dated folder and check whether it holds anything that is missing from the live folder (the one with the OneDrive icon). Copy any such items into the live folder and confirm they sync.
While you are in the dated folder, look at the top of the Finder window. If a banner with a Delete button appears, that marks a folder left over from a previous setup, and the button removes it.
Remove the old sidebar entry and any manual shortcuts that point to the dated folder.
Drag the live folder (the one with the OneDrive icon) into the Finder sidebar so that Finder and the Microsoft apps use the same location.
Once nothing unique remains in the dated folder, move it to the Trash.

Additionally, Microsoft documents a similar situation when both the standalone and the Mac App Store versions of OneDrive are installed. Please open Terminal and run:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Print CFBundleIdentifier' /Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Info.plist

The result com.microsoft.OneDrive means the standalone version, and com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac means the Store version.

For more information, please consult Why do I have two versions of OneDrive on my Mac? | Microsoft Support

However, if the issue persists, the most effective next step is reaching out to your IT admin and ask them to use their admin credentials to submit a support request through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center on your behalf.

Microsoft also provides customer service phone numbers based on your region. Your IT admin can find the appropriate contact number here: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support This route ensures that a Microsoft support engineer can initiate a remote session to investigate backend configurations, run advanced diagnostic tools, and, if necessary, they can request to escalate the case to specialized teams with access to internal systems and logs. These backend resources are essential for resolving issues that go beyond what’s visible in the user interface.

As community moderators, we’re here to guide you, but due to privacy and security limitations, we don’t have access to the backend tools required for a full resolution. For this reason, contacting Microsoft Support via the Admin Center is the most secure and efficient way forward.

In case you do not know who is your IT admin, kindly refer to this article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to share them in the comments on this post.

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Amelung, Till 0 Reputation points

2026-11-01T16:02:55.6133333+00:00

Thanks for the advise.

I did follow all the steps provided in the "two versions" help page. I only had one. No flags show. The folders are too large and I am too active in them to control everything by hand. Latest unsync was way prior to 28.10.2026. I don't think that the issue described here was the one causing the problem.

I followed the AI answer and now have three folders, one showing the OneDrive icon. Symlinks in Finder are indiscernible now, so more confusion. Not happy at all but I guess it will sort of work.
Ivory 2,610 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-01T17:31:42.8933333+00:00

Hi Amelung,

Thank you for the update.

Based on what you've described, this does not appear to be a straightforward case of multiple OneDrive accounts or an outdated sync folder. The fact that additional OneDrive folders were created and the Finder links have become more confusing suggests there may be an issue with the OneDrive sync root registration or the macOS File Provider integration.

Given that your OneDrive contains a significant amount of data and is actively used, I would not recommend making further manual changes to the folder structure or attempting to consolidate the folders yourself, as this could potentially lead to data loss or additional synchronization problems.

At this point, the best course of action would be to contact Microsoft Support directly. A support engineer can review the OneDrive client logs, verify the current sync configuration, and, if necessary, initiate a remote support session to inspect the File Provider configuration on your Mac and determine why multiple OneDrive locations are being created.

You can contact Microsoft Support through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center (if your organization has administrative access), or ask your Microsoft 365 administrator to open a support ticket on your behalf.

Since this appears to require investigation of the local OneDrive configuration and logs, Microsoft Support is best equipped to perform the deeper analysis needed in this scenario.
Amelung, Till 0 Reputation points

2026-11-01T18:50:07.6733333+00:00

sounds reasonable. Thanks for the feedback!
Ivory 2,610 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-02T21:23:28.5766667+00:00

Hi Amelung,

Hope you get your issue resolved as smoothly as possible.