5 minute cheat-sheet on the next OneDrive for Business Sync Client

Microsoft released the update to OneDrive late last year that gave Office 365 users the option to take advantage of the more stable consumer sync client. This also links within SharePoint, an enterprise tool to boost productivity and facilitate collaboration.

At present this means there are two OneDrive for Business sync clients. To distinguish between the two we will reference them as Groove.exe and OneDrive.exe.

Groove.exe – Part of the Office Pro Plus suite – Used to sync SharePoint libraries and OneDrive for Business libraries.

OneDrive.exe – The consumer sync client – Used to sync Microsoft account OneDrive documents and now supports Office 365 OneDrive for Business libraries.

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OneDrive.exe Sync Client Benefits

The benefits of using the OneDrive.exe sync client with Office 365 include:

  • A sync engine that works far better than Groove.exe – we’ve deployed this to many of our customers and the support tickets have been reduced by far!
  • Selective Sync – choose which folders to download
  • 10GB file limit
  • Removal of 20,000 item sync limit. You can now sync unlimited items.
  • Support for windows 7, 8 and 10
  • Multiple OneDrive for Business accounts can be added
  • Users have 1TB of space this is being increased to 5TB and you can request more from Microsoft if required.

    Specifically, this includes unlimited storage for individuals in organisations with more than five people subscribing to one of the following plans:

    • Office 365 Enterprise E3, E4 and E5
    • Office 365 Government E3, E4 and E5
    • Office 365 Education
    • OneDrive for Business Plan 2 and SharePoint Online Plan 2

Limitations & Considerations

Things to know about and consider when deploying the OneDrive.exe sync client for use with Office 365:

  • Documents are identified as local files which means:
    • Co-authoring does not work unless a file is opened from the browser
    • Using the ‘share’ feature from within an Office application does not work
    • Cloud (Modern) attachments are not available in Outlook 2016 because the file is stored locally. This means you cannot add a link to the file and allow sharing – you can only attach a file.
    • Recent items stored in Office will break.
  • Windows 8.1 is not supported
  • SharePoint libraries are not supported.
  • No transition/migration to the new sync.
  • Re-syncing files could cause excessive bandwidth usage
  • Duplication of content on a HD may cause issues

Microsoft suggest that the above limitations will be remediated by Q2 of 2016.

Configure/Install the new sync client

The below table shows the reg keys that help you configure the OneDrive.exe sync client.

You only need Reg Key 1 to get it OneDrive.exe working with Office 365 however the additional keys can help you configure as required for your users.

ID

Reg File

Description

1

 [HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftOneDrive]
“EnableAddAccounts”=dword:00000001

Enables Office 365 accounts to sign in to OneDrive.exe sync client

 

2

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftOneDrive]
“DefaultToBusinessFRE”=dword:00000001 

Default OneDrive.exe to launch the Welcome to OneDrive wizard to direct users to sign in with their Office 365 account.

 

3

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftOneDrive]
“DisablePersonalSync”=dword:00000001

Prevents users from syncing their consumer OneDrive account.

4

 [HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftOffice15.0CommonSignIn]
“SignInOptions”=dword:00000002

Removes references to OneDrive – Personal from Office 2013 applications

5

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftOffice16.0CommonSignIn]
“SignInOptions”=dword:00000002 

Removes references to OneDrive – Personal from Office 2016 applications

Once the above keys have been set, run the OneDrive.exe client.


Transition to the new sync client

There is no transition/migration to the new sync client. So here are some steps to help you out.

  1. Stop sync for OneDrive for Business from the system tray
  2. Exit OneDrive for Business
  3. Exit OneDrive
  4. Deploy the registry key/s
  5. Run OneDriveSetup.exe

Once this has completed, users will be able to login to OneDrive with their o365 credentials and it will give them the option to sync selected files. 

If you want to find out learn more about SharePoint click here, or if you would like to know more about OneDrive governance, download our OneDrive governance document that provides the configuration options for administrations when planning and deploying OneDrive for Business to your organisation. (opens in a new tab)” rel=”noreferrer noopener” class=”rank-math-link”>Click here >


Additional Resources

For additional resources about the new OneDrive for Business sync client:

Introduction to the OneDrive for Business Next Generation Sync Client

Get an overview of what the Next Generation Sync Client is all about.

Deploying the OneDrive for Business Next Generation Sync Client in an enterprise environment

Learn how administrators can deploy the Next Generation Sync Client for Windows to users in their enterprise environment.

Deploying the OneDrive Next Generation Sync Client on OS X and configuring work or school accounts

Learn how administrators can use options for configuring the OneDrive Next Generation Sync Client on Mac OS X computers.

Get started with the OneDrive for Business Next Generation Sync Client in Windows

Learn how Windows users can configure the Next Generation Sync Client.

Get started with the OneDrive for Business Next Generation Sync Client on Mac OS X

Learn how Mac users can configure the Next Generation Sync Client.

Transition from the previous OneDrive for Business Sync Client

Learn how Windows users can transition from the previous OneDrive for Business Sync Client to the Next Generation Sync Client.

Which OneDrive sync client am I using?

Learn how to easily tell which OneDrive sync client you are using.

OneDrive Next Generation Sync Client Release Notes

Knowledge base article with release note and limits.

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