Tag: OneDrive

Increase your OneDrive Storage Limit beyond 5 TB

Increase your OneDrive Storage Limit beyond 5 TB

Published March 31, 2020

Note – 2021-01-26 – This article is still totally valid, but check the comment section below for an alternate method for getting your tenant enabled for > 5 TB storage.

OneDrive for Business offers “unlimited” storage. You would be excused if you were sure that the limit was 1 TB because that is what it is set to by default, Microsoft would prefer it if you didn’t exercise this particular option. Individual users can’t change their limits, and administrators can only up that limit to 5 TB. Increasing it beyond that limit requires extra steps. I have just gone through those steps for my own OneDrive for business, and thought that I would share the experience.

The stratification of the different OneDrive for Business storage options has been outlined effectively by Joel Oleson in his article Three Tiers to Increase to Unlimited Storage in OneDrive for Business.

The bottom line is that you must increase the quota limit for a OneDrive in stages. These stages are:

Increase quota from 1 TB to 5TB
Reach 90% of the OneDrive storage limit (4.5 TB)
Open a support ticket to turn on “Boost Quota” for the tenant
Increase quota from 5 TB to 25TB
Reach 90% of the OneDrive storage limit (22.5 TB)
Open a support ticket to turn create a new site collection with 25 TB quota
Repeat steps 5 & 6 as necessary

I have just completed step 4, so that’s as far as this post will go. It likely goes without saying, but all of the operations below require tenant admin permissions.

Increase from the default limit to 5 TB

To increase a user’s OneDrive limit from the default of 1 TB to 5TB, it is a simple matter of running a PowerShell command, as documented in Change a specific user’s OneDrive storage space.

Set-SPOSite -Identity <user's OneDrive URL> -StorageQuota 5242880‬

The number 5,242,880‬ (5 TB) used for the storage quota must be precise.

The default value for the tenant itself can be changed as well, so that this first step isn’t necessary for new users. See Set the default storage space for OneDrive users for details. It should be noted that the maximum value that you can set as a default is 5120 (5TB). If it’s set any higher, it won’t be saved.

Increasing storage limit to 25 TB

Before you can set the limit any higher, you must first fill the OneDrive to 90% of its capacity, or 4.5 TB. This happened to me a few weeks ago and I started getting weekly “approaching your capacity” messages. At this point I opened a support ticket, and this is where the fun started.

I’ll spare you the back and forth email exchange, but a little snippet of the conversation went something like the following. Each line is an action or an email:

Me: fills out form explicitly stating that I have hit 90% and need quota increased from 5 TB to 25 TB
Support: Please reply with a screenshot of the problem, and any troubleshooting steps
Me: I need my OneDrive quota increased from 5 to 25 TB
Support: You need OneDrive Plan 2 for that, and your OneDrive must be at 98% (both incorrect)
Me: I have E5, which includes unlimited storage (I ignored the 98% comment)
Support: What capacity is it at now?
Me: 91%
Support: Send the OneDrive URL
Me: sends OneDrive URL
Support: Your tenant may not have the Boost storage option enabled. Let me ask my supervisor to get that enabled.
Support (one day later): Would you like instructions?
Me: Yes please
Support: sends publicly available url listed above that increases quota with Powershell
Support: First change it to 10 TB, then change it to 25 TB (no idea where that came from)
Me: tries it, doesn't work for 10 or 25
Me: It didn't work
Support: Did you connect to the SharePoint Online module first? (seriously)
Me: Yes. This isn't my first rodeo. (I'm paraphrasing)
Support: Can you send a screenshot of your error message?
Me: There is no error message, the value simply does not save.
Me: This approach works up to 5 TB but not beyond
Support: Let me look further into this and get back to you.
Support: Your request had now been passed to our escalations team
Support (5 days later, different rep): We enabled boost storage. Can you try and let us know?
Me: Successful. Thank you.

I include the above partly because you might want the chuckle, but mostly to let you know not to give up in this. It’s advertised, and you paid for it.

The command that I used to enable this, once support had turned on the boost storage feature was:

Set-SPOSite -Identity <user's OneDrive URL> -StorageQuota 26214400

The number 26,214,400 (25 TB) must be used precisely.

In any event, after running the above command, my storage limit is now at 25 TB.

The particularly interesting thing to note here is that because the “Boost storage” feature is set at the tenant level, any other OneDrives in the tenant can have their limits increased without contacting support. All that is necessary is the PowerShell script above. However, the drive must still reach 90% capacity before it can be increased.

Should I hit the next limit, I’ll report back here.

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Connecting Power BI workspaces and SharePoint sites

Connecting Power BI workspaces and SharePoint sites

Published June 7, 2019

Power BI V2 workspaces recently (May 2019) entered into general availability. The biggest difference between a V1 and V2 Power BI workspace is the fact that a V2 workspace is not backed by an Office 365 group, and a V1 workspace is. One area that this change affects a great deal is the “Get data” experience in the Power BI service (browser). This post outlines the differences, and describes the configuration options.

Data connections to files stored in SharePoint and OneDrive have certain unique characteristics when they are created in the browser. For example, these connections are automatically refreshed hourly unless that option is disabled.

V1 workspaces automatically offer the connection to the Documents library in the underlying SharePoint site. V2 workspaces do not automatically offer this option, as there is no underpinning SharePoint site. However, any V2 workspace can be connected to any Modern SharePoint site, and in this way, the option is more flexible. For the sake of clarity, a Modern SharePoint site is one that is backed by an Office 365 Group, and has an email address.

Let’s explore the 4 possible experiences when using “Get Data” and then choosing “Files” in the Power BI service. There are 4 possible experiences, depending on the type and configuration of the workspace;

Personal workspace
V1 workspace
V2 workspace not connected to a site
V2 workspace connected to a site

In each example below, the options are reached by selecting “Get Data” and then choosing “Files”. The type of files that can be imported are CSV, Excel, PBIX (Power BI Desktop files) and RDL (paginated reports).

Personal workspace

The personal workspace is the only workspace available using the free Power BI license. It is not connected to any SharePoint sites, and provides 4 options for importing.

“Local File” can be used for importing files from a local file store. Files imported in this manner are not automatically refreshed, and without the use of a gateway, cannot be. This option is available for every workspace type and will not be discussed further. “Learn about importing files” is a simple help link, likewise available to all workspace types.

OneDrive – Business connects to the currently logged in user’s OneDrive for Business storage. This is the OneDrive that is associated with “School or Organization” account which is stored in Azure Active Directory.

OneDrive – Personal connects to a user’s personal, or consumer OneDrive account. This is the type of OneDrive that is accessed using a “personal” account (otherwise known as a Microsoft account, or MSA). The personal workspace is the only type of workspace that allows a connection to personal OneDrive content.

SharePoint – Team Sites allows files stored in any SharePoint Online library to be loaded. Files stored in SharePoint on-premises can be loaded into Power BI, but only through Power BI Desktop. This method is online only.

Data imported in this fashion will be updated hourly with the exception of “Local File”. This will also be true of any OneDrive or SharePoint source referenced below.

V1 workspace

A Power BI V1 workspace is connected to an Office 365 Group, and therefore backed by a SharePoint site. This is reflected in the Files experience in the service.

Here we see 3 import options. Local File, SharePoint – Team Sites, and “Learn about..” are exactly the same as with personal workspaces. However, both OneDrive options from there are unavailable. The “OneDrive – XXXX” option is different, and bears some explanation.

In the image above, “Demos” is the name of the V1 workspace. Selecting this option will open the SharePoint library named “Documents” in the SharePoint site that is associated with this workspace and Office 365 group.

In my opinion, this option is poorly named, which leads to confusion. This container truly has nothing to do with OneDrive – it is a SharePoint library. We already have enough different “OneDrives” to keep track of, but I digress.

V2 workspace (not connected to a site)

The V2 workspace is not associated with a SharePoint site, and therefore, there is no Documents library to connect to. The option is instead replaced with the ability to connect to the user’s OneDrive for Business (OneDrive – Business) storage, as in the personal workspace. In essence, this experience is identical to the personal workspace experience minus the ability to connect to personal OneDrives.

V2 workspace (connected to a site)

Although a V2 workspace is not inherently connected to a SharePoint site, it can be manually connected to one. This restores the capability missing from V1 workspaces, while being more flexible. The workspace is no longer bound to a specific site, but can be configured to work with any Modern SharePoint site. In addition, the same site can be bound to multiple workspaces.

The “Modern” distinction above is important. The SharePoint site itself must be backed by an Office 365 group, as that is how it is identified in Power BI.

Associating a workspace with a SharePoint site

With V2 workspaces, site connection is now a property of the workspace. To edit workspace properties, select either the workspace settings button in the ribbon, or the ellipsis beside the workspace in the workspace list.

The connection setting is in the advanced section, and is identified as the “Workspace OneDrive”.

The important thing to note here is that you do NOT enter the URL of the SharePoint site in this field. This field is expecting the address of it in email format (ie demos@xxxx.com). All Modern Sharepoint sites are bound to an Office 365 group, and the email address is the address of that group.

Get Data – File options for a V2 connected site

Once connected, the “Get Data” – “File” options will be much the same as with an unconnected workspace, but with the “OneDrive – SiteName” option added.

I still take exception with the name presented above, in my opinion it should be “Site – SiteName” or “SharePoint – SiteName site” and use a SharePoint option. However, once connected files in the connected site can be imported easily into the Power BI service.

Usage

It is important to understand what the connected site is used for in Power BI. Connecting a site allows for files stored in a SharePoint library to be either imported into the service (all supported file types), or connected to (Excel files). This feature does NOT allow Power BI content to be stored in a SharePoint library

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Working with Excel files in the Power BI Service

Working with Excel files in the Power BI Service

Published July 20, 2018

Power BI has been able to work with Excel files since it was first introduced. Indeed, it was born from the analytic capabilities in Excel. Users can connect directly to Excel files by using the Power BI service and nothing but a browser. However, depending on the content of the Excel file, and the method of connecting, the resulting products can be very different. In this post I will attempt to clarify this behavior. A subsequent post will detail the options available when working with Excel files in Power BI Desktop.

File Structure

Excel is a multi-purpose tool. It contains all the building blocks of Power BI, and as such, it is an excellent Business Intelligence client. Excel files are also often used (much to my chagrin) as a data storage container, or as a data transport medium. Understanding how the file is structured, and what you want to do with it is key to making the right choice when combining it with Power BI.

Originally Excel files (workbooks) were collections of worksheets. Analysts could import data into those worksheets and then analyze them with the tools that Excel provided. Although Excel was never intended to be a database, it’s ease of use and familiarity led many people to begin using it that was, and “spreadmarts” (spreadsheet data marts) quickly became a problem. The problems arose because the instant data was extracted from a source it became stale, and the fact that it was being stored in worksheets meant that it could be edited (changing history) and became subject to the data size limitations of a worksheet.

To take advantage of Excel’s analytic capabilities without being subject to the issues involved in worksheet data storage, the data model was introduced, initially through PowerPivot. The data model is a “miniaturized” version of the SQL Server Analysis Services tabular engine that runs in Excel. This data model is read only, refreshable, and highly compressed which importantly means that its only data limitation is the amount of available memory available on the machine running it. Importantly, this engine is the same engine that is used by Power BI – the advantages of which we’ll explore shortly.

Excel of course still needs to be able to use worksheets and be Excel, so we can’t just remove the worksheet capability (which incidentally is effectively what Power BI Desktop is – Excel without worksheets). Therefore, today from a data perspective, Excel files can have data in the data model, worksheets or both. From the Power BI service perspective, the important thing is whether the file contains a data model, as it treats the two cases differently.

Getting Excel Data

From the Power BI service, you click the Get Data button, and then the Get button in the Files tile. You are then presented with one of two dialogs depending on whether you are using a personal workspace, or an app workspace.

Personal workspace

Importing files into a Power BI Personal Workspace

Connecting file-based data to a personal workspace

When importing into a personal workspace, there are 4 possible data sources.

A local file is one that is stored on a file system local to the machine being used. Selecting this option will allow you to work with the Excel file stored in that location, but if the file is being used as a data source (data is in the worksheets), then a Data Gateway will be required for any data refreshes. Power BI will also connect to a file stored in OneDrive, either Personal or Business (through office 365). Finally, the service can work with files stored in any accessible SharePoint site (not simply Team sites as the name would indicate).

App workspace

Importing files into a Power BI App Workspace

Connecting file-based data to an App workspace

When importing into an App workspace, there are 3 possible data sources. The Local File and SharePoint – Team Sites options are precisely the same as when importing into a personal workspace. The difference is the OneDrive – Workspace name option replaces the two other OneDrive options. Choosing this option allows you to work with files stored in the “Group OneDrive”. Since every App workspace is backed by an Office 365 or “Modern” group, it also has access to the SharePoint site for that group. The “Group OneDrive” is the Documents library within that SharePoint site. Therefore, choosing SharePoint – TeamSites and navigating to the Documents library will render the same results in a few more mouse clicks, but also give access to all other document libraries within that site.

Connect vs Import

Once you navigate to the Excel file that you want to work with, you select it, and click connect. You will then be presented with two options for the file, Import or Connect.

This choice dictates how the file is brought into the Power BI service. The structure of the file determines exactly what is brought in to the service in both cases.

Connect

Clicking the Connect button allows Power BI to connect to and work with the Excel file in place. The workbook is displayed as an Excel workbook in full fidelity in the Power BI interface using Excel Online. The file itself is shown in the Workbooks section in the Power BI interface, and it stands alone from other Power BI elements (except that regions of it can be pinned to a dashboard). Connecting to an Excel report will not create a Power BI Dataset, Report, or Dashboard. All operations, including refresh (see below) are controlled through the workbook.

At no point is the file moved, or “brought in” to the Power BI service. If the file is being stored in SharePoint, or OneDrive, anything done to the file in the Power BI service will be visible to anyone with access to the file itself, whether they are a Power BI user or not. This includes refresh, which will be discussed further below, but the important part to remember here is that if the data in the connected file is refreshed through the Power BI service, and it is being stored in SharePoint (or OneDrive), all users will be able to see updated data the next time that they open the file.

Connecting to an Excel file behaves the same way whether the file contains a data model or not, but the file must contain a data model in order to be refreshed by the Power BI service.

Connected Excel file within Power BI

Connected Excel file within Power BI

Import

Importing an Excel file behaves totally differently from connecting to it. When an Excel file is imported, it is treated as a data source to Power BI, and the assets within that file are brought into the Power BI service. Subsequent changes to the source file are not immediately reflected within the Power BI service, but are retrieved through the refresh process.

The way that the assets are brought into the service depends very much on the structure of the file, specifically whether it contains a data model or not. If the file does not contain a data model, then Power BI will use the data contained in the Excel worksheets to construct a new one. This is similar to what happens when a CSV file is imported into the service. If the file does contain a data model, then the worksheet data is imported, and that data model is brought into the service as-is. One important exception to this is if worksheet data uses the same query as an existing model, the worksheet data is ignored, and the data model is brought in as-is. This is important because Excel’s Power Pivot editor can be used to edit the model, creating calculated columns, calculated measures and relationships prior to import. The model that is automatically created when the file does not contain a model has no editing capabilities.

When an Excel file with a data model is imported, the data model (imported or created) is added to datasets, and a link to the dataset is added to the default dashboard for the workspace. If no default dashboard exists, one will be created. A report can then be authored in the service. If the workbook contains any PowerView reports, these will be converted to native Power BI reports and added to the service as well. Any embedded 3D maps are not brought in.

Imported Excel File showing calculated measures

Imported Excel File showing calculated measures

Refresh

Data refresh options, and behavior depend on both the Get Data choice (connect or import) and the structure of the Excel file.

Connected Workbooks

If the workbook is connected to the service, and it does not contain a data model, it cannot be refreshed. This is true even if the worksheets in the workbook contain data from Power Query queries. This is the only scenario that does not support refresh in any way.

If the workbook contains a data model refresh is supported. The interesting part is that refresh will be triggered not only for the data model itself, but for any worksheets that have Power Queries as a data source. Therefore, a workaround to the lack of refresh support for a worksheet with no data model is to add a blank data model.

For refresh to work, the data source must be available to the Power BI service. This means that the source must be available in the cloud or registered on an available On-Premises Data Gateway.

The important thing to note about connected workbooks is that the refresh options that are performed on them are permanent – refreshed data is stored with the workbook. This means that if the connected workbook is stored in SharePoint, or shared through OneDrive, updated data is available to all users with access regardless of whether they are Power BI users.

Imported Workbooks

Refresh options for imported workbooks are slightly more complicated. As mentioned above data is either imported from the worksheets, a data model imported into the service or both.

If data was imported from worksheets, then the Excel file is the data source from the standpoint of Power BI. If the file is stored in SharePoint or OneDrive, it will automatically be refreshed every hour by default. This means that changes to the underlying Excel file will be reflected back in the Power BI service within an hour. This feature can be disabled, but it is not possible to change to hourly schedule, nor precisely when it will occur.

Refresh options for workbooks in OneDrive/SharePoint

Refresh options for workbooks in OneDrive/SharePoint

If the file is stored on a file system, it can be scheduled more granularly, but you will need to connect to it through an On-Premises Data Gateway.

If the file contained a data model that was imported into the service, then the original source of data for that data model (the query) is what the Power BI service will refresh from (NOT the Excel file itself). In this case, the refresh options are the same as with most other Power BI data sources – Excel is taken out of the picture completely, and any changes to the source Excel file will not be reflected into the service. The exception to this is if the file had both a data model, and worksheet data that was imported.

In the case of an Excel with both a data model and worksheet data, both cases above will apply. The workbook is used as a data source for the table that was created by Power BI on import, and the original data model’s source is updated independently. This means that changes to the worksheet data are reflected in the Power BI service when refreshed, but any model changes to the original Excel file are not. Both the OneDrive and regular refresh schedules are used for imported files of this type.

Refresh options for a combined data source

Refresh options for a combined data source

The following table summarizes the refresh options available for file structure and connection type.

File Structure	Get Data option
	Connect	Import
Worksheet data	None	Refresh from worksheet
Data model only	Refresh from model source	Refresh from model source
Data model plus worksheet data	Refresh from model source and worksheet source	Refresh from model source and worksheet

Summary

Both Excel and Power BI are powerful tools in their own rights, and the decision to use one does not preclude using the other and in fact there are many good reasons for doing so. Bringing refreshability to Excel files stored in SharePoint is just one of them. It is however important to understand how it all works in order to get the maximum impact.

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OneDrive is Ready – It’s Seriously Time to Ditch the X: Drive

Published September 29, 2017

If you are in information worker of any sort, and have been at it for any more than a couple of years, you’ve experienced it – the X: drive. Or the S: drive, P, R, whatever the letter. It’s the drive letter that is mapped to a network based file share that contains most of the company’s documents.

My first experience with IT was in 1989, setting up and managing a Novell Netware 3 network for a University department. Logging into the network (through a DOS prompt) would automatically add a drive to your machine with all of the resources that you needed, the storage you could ever want (measured in MB). It was “magical”.

This basic model exists to this day. We’ve tried to move away from it, we’ve tried very hard. We’ve had large monolithic document management systems imposed from above like FileNet and Documentum. These solutions gained success in specific areas, as they were mandated from above. SharePoint itself came along and democratized document management to a much broader degree, but the pesky X: drive still persists. Why?

One word. Usability.

End users want to be able to open up File Explorer, navigate to their drive, browse their folder structure and work with their documents. The drive mapping metaphor has succeeded so well because it fits this scenario perfectly, and its familiarity. Ever since personal computing began, we’ve accessed file storage using drive letters.

Users use formal document management systems reluctantly. This is often due to overzealous metadata requirements (just fill out this 20 field form to store your document), burdensome procedures, or performance issues. However given the choice, they retreat to the familiarity of their file systems, and their X: drives more often than not.

Consultants and vendors preaching a new way of doing things are in the end shouting against thunder. We can’t expect users to adapt to new systems quickly – what we need, at least transitionally is for the systems to adapt to the users. This is where OneDrive comes in.

One of the most compelling features of SharePoint 2013 in my opinion was OneDrive for Business. The reason that I felt that was that for the first time, SharePoint document management was tightly integrated into File Explorer. There had been previous attempts at synchronizing (SharePoint Workspace), but that required separate client software and required a lot of manual dragging and dropping.

The implementation of OneDrive for Business was initially hobbled by restrictions and limits, and was rather confusing, limiting adoption. However, through the combination of the current OneDrive sync client, with the Files On Demand feature available in the Windows Fall Creators update, OneDrive is truly ready for widespread adoption. Over the past few years, OneDrive has become both reliable and fast, and Files on Demand combined with in-context sharing put it over the top.

OneDrive Files on Demand

Files On Demand in File Explorer

Screenshot taken while flying on airplane mode from a laptop containing a single 256 GB drive.

Files on Demand allows you to easily control what files are synchronized to your local device, while still being able to see all your file assets, directly from File Explorer.

In the figure above, the cloud icon indicates that that folder is not currently stored locally. That’s a good thing, because opening up the folder properties reveals that it is over 1 TB in size, and the drive on the laptop (that I’m currently writing this with) is only 256 GB. Moreover, that screen shot was taken while flying, and totally disconnected. I could still see things that were not on my local device.

If connected, cloud files can be interacted with the same way that local files can, by any application. Opening them just requires a little more time as the file is downloaded in the background. If you will be offline, bringing a file local is a simple matter of right clicking on that file, or folder, and selecting “Always keep on this device”.

Files on Demand is currently available to Windows Insiders, and will be generally available with the Windows Fall Creators Update on October 17, 2017.

In Context Sharing

OneDrive sharing from File Explorer

The new OneDrive in context sharing experience

Up until very recently, sharing a drive from Explorer was a rather frustrating experience. You could identify your file, right click on it, click on share, and then a browser window would pop open, and if you were lucky, you would be presented with a view of the OneDrive web user interface. This experience was jarring, and required multiple steps.

Over the past summer, OneDrive rolled out updates that change this behaviour significantly. Now clicking on share brings up the dialog above and sharing is done completely from there. No context switching, and no authentication failures.

Time to move

These two new features, combined with the performance and reliability improvements over the last few years puts OneDrive over the top. Finally, all of the usability issues have been addressed. End users can live completely in File Explorer should they wish to do so, and be oblivious to the workings of OneDrive and/or SharePoint. However, at the same time, they will gain significant benefits compared to the shared file system.

However, OneDrive provides much more than simply an alternate storage location for your files. Once content is stored in OneDrive, a whole host of options are opened. The organization benefits because all this content is immediately made discoverable through technologies like Delve and Search. File access can be tracked, helping users understand what content others find valuable. There are, however, many immediate benefits that occur directly to the users themselves. I wanted to call out three of them, but there are many more.

OneDrive File Viewing

OneDrive comes with a long list of file viewers. These viewers allow the contents of a file to be viewed without opening the underlying application, which tends to be significantly faster than opening the host application. In fact, the application itself does not need to be installed. This is valuable in itself, but when combined with Files On Demand a file can be viewed whether or not it is even stored locally. A large Adobe Illustrator file can be viewed locally without it even being present on disk. Files On Demand is also available on Mac, and in the OneDrive client, and therefore, this very same file can be viewed on iPhone, Android, iPad, anywhere the OneDrive application is available. This, to my mind, is a game changer.

Sharing

Sharing with OneDrive is not new, but sharing directly from the explorer window is. That sharing experience is also now being consolidated across devices, and embedded into Microsoft Office applications. In addition, OneDrive files can be shared externally with an anonymous link, or securely with others that have a Microsoft account (personal or organizational), but what will be shortly available is the ability to securely share files externally with people that have any type of account.

Files Restore

Announced at Ignite 2017, FilesRestore provides end users with the ability to easily track all versions of their files for the past 30 days, and to instantly restore them to a point of time anywhere in that window. Administrators have long had this capability through a set of operations, but FilesRestore puts this capability into the hands of the end user with a simple to use user interface. Users can rest assured that their files are safe not only from disaster, but from their own mistakes, malware, ransomware or anything. Files stored in OneDrive are safe.

These are but three compelling benefits that users can enjoy by moving content to OneDrive. There are many more. Foe a good overview, and to hear all of the OneDrive announcements from Ignite 2017, be sure to check out “OneDrive – Past, Present and Future“.

It’s time to ditch the shared X: drive once and for all.

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Enabling the new OneDrive Sync Client for SharePoint

Published January 27, 2017

I recently wrote about the fact that the new OneDrive sync client now supports the synchronization of SharePoint libraries, and the benefits that it brings. Since the release however, I have heard from several people that even though they have the new client, their libraries continue to sync with the older OneDrive for Business client. Microsoft has documented all of the procedures for getting it to work in this article, but I wanted to call out a few common issues here. If you’ve been using the old OneDrive for Business Sync client, and you want to move to the Next Generation Sync Client (NGSC), you’ll want to check the items below.

Make sure you have the correct version

The Next Generation Sync Client has been available for over a year, but the ability to synchronize SharePoint libraries was only added in January 2017. If you use Windows 10, the client is updated automatically, but you may not have it yet. To check your version, right click on one of the OneDrive clouds in the system tray (not any OneDrive for Business icons) and select “Settings”

Next, click on the “About” tab and check the version.

If you have version 17.3.6743.1212 or above, you’re good to go. If not, or you’re not running Windows 10, you can download the latest version here.

Ensure That Your Tenant is Configured for the New Client

Administrators can configure their tenant to use either the new OneDrive Sync client or the old OneDrive for Business Sync Client. This configuration setting is in the SharePoint administration of Office 365. To change this setting, log into the Office 365 Admin portal (or have your tenant admin do this if you don’t have rights). The URL for the portal is https://portal.office.com/adminportal/. Once there, launch the SharePoint admin center by clicking SharePoint in the Admin Centers section.

The setting that we’re after is in the “settings” section of the SharePoint admin center. Select it, then scroll to the “Sync Client for SharePoint” section. The options are straightforward – Start the new client, or start the old one. Once selected, click on Save (scroll down for the button). This setting controls what happens when the “Sync” button is selected in a SharePoint library.

Initiate the Takeover Process

Even with this setting turned on, the old OneDrive for Business sync client may be active. You’ll need to take action to have the new client take over. This can be done one of several ways. Firstly, running the setup process for the new sync client will do it (download is above). You can also run “OneDrive.exe /takeover” to accomplish this, but the easiest approach is to simply sync a new library by clicking on its Sync button. Doing so will not only sync the new library, but will take over syncing anything that the older client is doing.

Once the takeover process is complete, the old client will be removed on the next system restart. That’s the last you’ll see of GROOVE.EXE.

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