How to disable Files On-Demand in OneDrive MacOS? It's enforced since the last update ...

Yesterday's lengthy update from Microsoft's OneDrive architect Jack Nichols in the link above is really a must read.

I have been a heavy OneDrive user for years, using it for syncing lots of files, including hundreds of thousands of pictures, between multiple devices. The macOS OneDrive client is key in my cloud file storage workflow, so I was also in fury when I initially discovered the update and found that all my files seemed to be gone, forcing me to use theFiles On-demand feature that I had always kept disabled due to considerable performance issues with the previous OneDrive version.

Even with that feature disabled, the OneDrive experience on macOS has always been mixed, due to the issues that Jack is mentioning: performance issues, inconsistent icons... it was clearly not the experience that you expect from Microsoft.

After having read Jack's explanation, and being in the software development industry, I welcome the new approach that Microsoft is taking, and the time they invest in the macOS OneDrive client. Relying on a native macOS feature (the macOS File Provider platform) is clearly the way to go.

There are, however, issues remaining. In my case, even after having checked Always keep on the device on a folder and waited for hours, the files are still not immediately displayed in its sub-folders, until I open those folders and wait for the 2 seconds delay to have them appear. They also do not appear in Spotlight searches until I do so.

They should have warned us all ahead of this update. There is nothing worse than booting your Mac in the morning and discover that all your files are gone, or at least seem to be, but let's all reconsider the question with that status update and describe the remaining bugs to Microsoft.

Not seem to. They are really deleted. My wifes mac was switched off the 24th. On the 30th she decided to switch it on. I was just in time to hit duplicate in finder on the ondrive directory before the mouse decided it needed new batteries. (Yeah Murphy). Anyway after a while there was the dreaded link to nothing in Library. The directory UBF8... was also empty. The duplicate had worked. So I decided on a little test. I disconnected the mac from the onedrive account in onedrive. It then warns you that it can only keep files on your mac which are already on your mac. Well that's ok. Nobody in their right mind would delete files on a computer owned by someone else (ransomware gangs would but...) So I clicked ok. Waited, nothing. All 181gb was gone. So I can say that it not only seems your files are deleted. They are deleted. Or if anyone want to be picky they are in a place undefined not accessble by you. So they might as well be deleted. The effect is the same. Something did mv -f * > /dev/NULL 😵

Yesterday's lengthy update from Microsoft's OneDrive architect Jack Nichols in the link above is really a must read.

I have been a heavy OneDrive user for years, using it for syncing lots of files, including hundreds of thousands of pictures, between multiple devices. The macOS OneDrive client is key in my cloud file storage workflow, so I was also in fury when I initially discovered the update and found that all my files seemed to be gone, forcing me to use theFiles On-demand feature that I had always kept disabled due to considerable performance issues with the previous OneDrive version.

Even with that feature disabled, the OneDrive experience on macOS has always been mixed, due to the issues that Jack is mentioning: performance issues, inconsistent icons... it was clearly not the experience that you expect from Microsoft.

After having read Jack's explanation, and being in the software development industry, I welcome the new approach that Microsoft is taking, and the time they invest in the macOS OneDrive client. Relying on a native macOS feature (the macOS File Provider platform) is clearly the way to go.

There are, however, issues remaining. In my case, even after having checked Always keep on the device on a folder and waited for hours, the files are still not immediately displayed in its sub-folders, until I open those folders and wait for the 2 seconds delay to have them appear. They also do not appear in Spotlight searches until I do so.

They should have warned us all ahead of this update. There is nothing worse than booting your Mac in the morning and discover that all your files are gone, or at least seem to be, but let's all reconsider the question with that status update and describe the remaining bugs to Microsoft.

This is utterly frustrating. OneDrive is supposed to be a productivity app. The update took away all of the productivity and rendered OneDrive useless. My files were gone from one day to the other, without any warning. Now I've been trying to get them back to my Mac for more than five hours, only to find out that:

• I had to klick on hundreds of files as they wouldn't download after I had chosen the option "always keep on this device" for the folders that contained those files
• I can now open the files from finder again, only to find out that when I do so the autosave function of all the MS Office apps isn't working anymore
• I have to open a document from within the corresponding MS Office app to have autosave work, which is an annoying workaround. Or I can open it from finder to turn autosave on, which only works after it forces me to save the document online. Problem is, the document is already there and I have to replace it with the one I have open. As this wouldn't be enough, it frequently happens that saving goes wrong an the document disappears from OneDrive entirely.
• whenever I drag and drop a file to finder I have to click on "always keep on this device" as it won't be saved there automatically

I need my files saved locally so I can back them up with Time Machine. I want my data safe. In the cloud and on my Mac. OneDrive was working, but you've simply ruined it for now. I'm forced to work with OneDrive as my organisation uses it. Will there be an update to bring back functionality?

Thank you.
While right click and selecting 'Always keep on this device' doesn't do anything, the grey icons to the right of each file/folder work sometimes. Some of them need to be clicked several times.

Surprisingly, it did not download almost anything from the cloud.

But it somehow connected files and folders in OneDrive location to files that exist in OneDrive catch location /Users/YOUR_USER_NAME/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveStandaloneSuite/OneDrive.noindex/OneDrive

Try clicking the gray cloud icon to the right of each folder. That worked for me.

Also, check to see if your files were migrated to this location:

/Users/YOUR_USER_NAME/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.OneDriveStandaloneSuite/OneDrive.noindex/OneDrive