Windows 8.1 Skydrive not synchronising

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freitasm

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#138242 26-Dec-2013 20:53

Is anyone else seeing cases where Windows 8.1 Skydrive is not synchronising between cloud and PC?

I have a laptop with Skydrive 8.1 and files added/changed seem to upload fine to the cloud storage. However on my tablet, also running Skydrive 8.1 the files are not being download (or uploaded in case of a new local file is added).

Anyone else seeing this?

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#957707 26-Dec-2013 21:36

Have you turned on "Access all files " in Skydrive | Settings | Options? With the 8.1 update Skydrive now uses "smart files" (or some similar term) that are not downloaded automatically.

freitasm

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#957717 26-Dec-2013 21:38

Yes, and all files are "Available offline". And this shouldn't matter for the scenario where I locally create a file - this should be uploaded even if "Available online only" was selected.

The Dots of Death are rolling on top of the screen but nothing happens. No files synchronising in either direction.

Perhaps Skydrive can't handle this:

It's not even a big volume at all.

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#957788 27-Dec-2013 08:15

After a couple of hours watching the dots flying on the screen I went to bed (Power Settings on the tablet were to Never sleep when plugged in). The 58 missing files from the new folder were there when I got up in the morning as well as a few files removed from other directories have now gone.

Frustrating that "cloud" would take more than a two hours to sync 58 files. Sure if I needed the files I could open on the browser, but the whole idea of "offline" on a tablet is for those times when you aren't connected - in the air, on a bus, etc...

I wonder if Skydrive is optimised for large number of files (not to confuse of a number of large files).

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#957794 27-Dec-2013 08:16

Are the new local files created in Microsoft Office or in other applications? If only Office then there might be a separate cache with a problem.

I've heard of people having problems with too many files or too many folders. I've got more files than you.

Troubleshooting 8.1 Skydrive is a lot more difficult since they made its activities so opaque.

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#957795 27-Dec-2013 08:18

Those files were in the Pictures folder, copied over from the camera. No Office involved in this case.

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#957806 27-Dec-2013 08:40

Another interesting thing, seemingly unrelated, I've noticed: even though the switch "Access all files offline" was set, the status for the Skydrive folder itself is "Available online only". The subfolders are all available offline because I marked them as such when configuring the tablet via Windows Explorer.

I noticed this because I created a new .txt file on my laptop to see how long before it would show up on the tablet after this long sync last night. I put the file on the Skydrive folder (not a subfolder) and its status was "online only". Also if I open Windows Explorer and click on an empty space on the Skydrive folder it shows "online only".

I changed the Skydrive folder itself to "Available offline" via Windows Explorer now. It seems that switch in the Skydrive app doesn't do much...

Strange and stranger.

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#958145 27-Dec-2013 23:36

The "Access all files off-line" switch in the Skydrive app updates all my Skydrive folders to match.

If I change one folder to online-only through Windows Explorer then the Skydrive switch is turned off too.

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#958210 28-Dec-2013 09:47

I've set my skydrive folder to available offline several times and it still seems to want to download files when I access them. It can be an issue sometimes as I often work offline.

The old version of the skydrive app before windows 8.1 was much better in my opinion. I was able to select what location I could store files and which files/folders to sync and had no issue with this offline/online stuff.

I am thinking that this new version is another concept that would be fine on an RT but not on a desktop.

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#958283 28-Dec-2013 12:34

Yes, the new process is over-simplified and details are now too obscure.

The worst part for me is that I "failed" to see any advisory/warning about the changes which are very significant. For a while I thought they had improved Skydrive so it wasn't so obtrusive when updating. Instead I found out it simply wasn't syncing most of my files.

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#964465 10-Jan-2014 12:47

And now, this:

Seriously, is there something missing here Microsoft?

freitasm

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#964482 10-Jan-2014 13:13

Interesting thing is that files actually are being synchronised up and down despite the error message. The only thing that is not really working is file picker - when SkyDrive is selected it throws an error.

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#964515 10-Jan-2014 13:46

we are continuing to improve the SkyDrive experience and you can expect an update coming out soon

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#964516 10-Jan-2014 13:49

I am afraid I won't wait for the update as this is now preventing me from doing some work here. Trying to use Modern UI apps only and file picker relies on Skydrive - which just says "sorry can't access files now, try again later" (and yes, files are all available offline).

Refresh time (again) it is.

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#964523 10-Jan-2014 13:51

freitasm: I am afraid I won't wait for the update as this is now preventing me from doing some work here. Trying to use Modern UI apps only and file picker relies on Skydrive - which just says "sorry can't access files now, try again later" (and yes, files are all available offline).

Refresh time (again) it is.

can you not use the desktop app in the meantime?

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#964526 10-Jan-2014 13:54

Not if you're trying to use only Modern UI apps which will only use the Skydrive file picker - things such as Project Siena for example (which is exactly where I noticed this happening first time, then lead me to the screenshots above).

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