Two more OneDrive questions

[Jeff H]

Now that I've been looking more closely at the OneDrive syncing, two things have come up about the symbols that appear in the Status column of the "Files On Demand" version. I understand about the cloud symbol (meaning it's currently in the cloud only), but the offline and syncing symbols are puzzling me.

1. What's the difference between "Locally available" (the green check on a white background) and "Always available" (the white check on a green background)? The descriptions say, "You can open a locally available file anytime, even without Internet access. If you need more space, you can change the file back to online only" and "These always available files download to your device and take up space, but they’re always there for you even when you’re offline". I don't see what the difference is.

2. The online help topics I found don't mention the syncing symbol, two blue arrows in a circle. I get that it should mean that a file currently needs to be syncd, like it did in the old version, where the symbols were in the lower left corners of the folder or file icons. However, I have some folders showing that symbol but the OneDrive icon says everything is up to date, and when I drill down I can't find any files that have that symbol.

Screenshot (67).jpg

[HansV]

1. A Google search shows that even Microsoft employees don't have a clue what the difference is. The best explanation seems to be that "locally available" files may revert to "cloud only" if you don't access them for some time, while "always available" files will always keep a copy on your local disk.

[HansV]

2. This appears to be a common problem without a clear resolution. Sorry!

[Jeff H]

Ok, then. Thanks for checking these out for me, Hans. I feel better knowing that it's just another Microsoft "thing".