Onedrive Shared Folder Not Showing In Explorer

| 16-04-2021
[RAND-1-100] Comments



Note that the Shared view is not a separate folder - you cannot move items out of it into your Files view. You can copy the shared file to your Files view, but any changes you make to the saved copy will not be reflected in the original file, so no one else with access to the original file will see your changes. Also, if the owner of the original file revokes your access or deletes the. Check the path under Your OneDrive folder is here. Choose Change Location if you want to use a different path, and then select Next. The files in your team sites will appear in the left pane of File Explorer under the name of your organization. The files in OneDrive will appear under 'OneDrive - '.

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One of the best ways to set up file storage and sharing for your business is to use OneDrive and a team site together. This is ideal if you have a small business with a few employees.

Watch a short video about storing files in the Microsoft 365 cloud.

If you found this video helpful, check out the complete training series for small businesses and those new to Microsoft 365.

'Microsoft 365 document storage and management'

  • OneDrive is designed for individual use, with the occasional sharing of files.

  • A team site is designed for sharing and collaborating on files regularly. A team site is ideal for storing files that have shared ownership where several people own the files and might collaborate on them. Create a Microsoft Team to add a team site. Learn more at Create a team in Teams.

Both OneDrive and team sites provide anywhere access for you and your employees.

Here are recommendations for what to store in each location when you use OneDrive and team sites together:

Storage location
What it's for
What to store here
OneDrive
Storing content in OneDrive is like storing files on your computer; no one else can easily access them.
For more info, see What is OneDrive for Business?
Business files that other team members won't need to collaborate on or access regularly.
SharePoint team sites
Collaboration. When you create a Microsoft 365 group (for example, in the Microsoft 365 admin center, in Outlook, or by creating a team in Microsoft Teams), a SharePoint team site is created for that group. Likewise, when you create a new SharePoint team site from the SharePoint home page or from the new SharePoint admin center, it also creates a Microsoft 365 group. For more info, see What is a SharePoint team site? and Create a team site in SharePoint Online.
Files that have shared ownership. We recommend separate team sites for each unit of work in your organization. For example, to keep personnel and financial documents private to a small team, create a separate team site.

Note

SharePoint also has other types of sites you can use for your business. You can use communication sites in your intranet to publish information for a broad audience. And you can use hub sites to connect sites in your intranet.

Start using OneDrive and your team site

Team members can store their own files in OneDrive

Each person in your business who has a Microsoft 365 license assigned (and SharePoint Online selected) gets OneDrive cloud storage. They can store business-related files here for access from any device, and they are only available to that user. For example, they might store a draft proposal, their meeting notes, or the script for a demo they're going to deliver.

Employees can also share OneDrive files and folders. If an employee is away or leaves the company, others can access shared files stored in OneDrive (OneDrive team folder sharing).

Here's how each person on your team can set up OneDrive and share files.

  1. Go to the Microsoft 365 Portal, and sign in with your user name and password.

  2. From the App launcher, select OneDrive.

  3. In OneDrive, team members can store their own business-related files. You can share either individual files, or a whole folder. Pick a file or folder, right-click, and then choose Share.

  4. On the Send Link page, leave the default selection Anyone with the link can view and edit.

    Type names or email addresses of team members who you want to have access to the folder, and add an optional message.

    If you want your own copy of the email that will be sent, add your email address to the list.

  5. When you're done entering who you want to share with, select Send. The email is immediately sent to the people you invite.

  6. Here's what the email looks like.

Upload files to a team site for online collaboration

Showing

Team sites come with a place to store files, called a document library.

Here are the steps to add files:

  1. On the home page of your team site, choose Documents from the left-hand navigation menu. This will take you to your Documents library.

  2. While you're still signed in to Microsoft 365, open Windows File Explorer from your taskbar or other location. Go to the files you want to upload to your team site.

  3. Select the files you want to upload to your team site, and then drag them to the Document library.

  4. When you're done, the files will be stored in both your team site and your computer.

  5. You can delete the files from your computer. In the next step, Sync online files with your PC or Mac, you're going to create a new location for these files on your computer.

    If you have numerous files or large files to upload to your team site, read these tips on uploading large or many files to a library.

    If you need more storage space, see Change storage space for your subscription.

Sync online files with your PC or Mac

Now that you have files on your team site, you can set them up to sync with your PC or Mac. This way, you can work on your files from your PC or Mac instead of working in Microsoft Edge, Chrome, or another browser. It's also useful to have a version of your files synced on your computer for situations when you need to get to a file and you aren't connected to the Internet.

After you set up files to sync with your computer, when you're connected to the Internet, they'll be synchronized automatically.

Here's how to synchronize files on your team site with your desktop:

  1. On the home page of your team site, choose Documents from the left-hand navigation menu. This takes you to your Documents library.

    Tip

    When syncing files on your team site, you're syncing each file library on the site, not the entire site.

  2. Choose Sync to synchronize all the files. Or browse to the specific folder you want to sync.

  3. If prompted to switch apps, choose Yes. OneDrive is the process doing the synchronization.

  4. If you then get a Set up OneDrive prompt, sign in with your work or school account.

  5. If you haven't yet synced your OneDrive, you might see a This is your OneDrive folder screen. Check the path under Your OneDrive folder is here. Choose Change Location if you want to use a different path, and then select Next.

  6. The files in your team sites will appear in the left pane of File Explorer under the name of your organization. The files in OneDrive will appear under 'OneDrive - <Name of Organization>'

  7. Test the synchronization by opening a file in the team's folder on your computer. Make a change, and then choose Save.

Best practices for file storage and sharing

Here are a few tips for getting the most from OneDrive or your SharePoint team site.

File storage and collaboration recommendations for other types of small businesses

  • Sole proprietorships: Use OneDrive to store your own files and share them with customers on a case-by-case basis.

  • Co-ownerships: Both owners use OneDrive and share files back and forth.

  • Businesses with external clients or partners who need access to files: Create a new team site to store and share documents intended for a specific customer. Set up the site to allow access to only that customer. You then don't need to worry that one customer will accidentally get access to information intended for another customer.

Keep private files private

When you store a file in OneDrive it's only accessible by you, unless you share it with others. When you share files, you can choose to create a link that can be forwarded, or to share with only specific people. You can also create separate folders in OneDrive for different purposes such as public, personal, or for individual projects. Each folder can be shared with a different person or group, or nobody else at all.

For more information on sharing, also see Share files and folders with Microsoft 365.

Track how much space you have left

To see how much storage space you have left in OneDrive, see Manage your OneDrive for Business storage.

What files can be stored in OneDrive and a team site?

While you can upload almost all types of files, some file names and characters in file names aren't allowed. For more info, see Invalid file characters and file types in OneDrive for Business.

Enable or disable third-party storage services

You can enable third-party storage for your users in Microsoft 365 so they can store and share documents using services like Dropbox in addition to OneDrive and team sites. This can be a great way to provide services that your users may already be using or prefer to use for business projects. If you don't want people in your organization using Office to open files in a third-party service, follow these steps to turn it off.

Important

Third-party storage is enabled by default so you need to perform these steps right away if you don't want it available to your users.

  1. Sign in to to the admin center.

  2. Go to the Settings > Org settings page.

  3. On the Services tab, select Office on the web.

  4. Select or deselect the check box to turn third-party storage on or off, then select Save changes.

Next steps

  • Customize your team site for file storage and sharing. This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to you can take advantage of more storage and collaboration features.

  • Set up Office apps on your tablets and phones. You need to do this so you can edit files that are stored in OneDrive and on team sites from your tablet or phone. If you don't install the Office apps for your tablet or phone, you'll be able to view the files but not edit them.

Summary :

The OneDrive may disappear in the Taskbar and File Explorer, which brings some inconvenience for users to sync files. This post will walk you through how to fix the issue OneDrive icon missing in Taskbar and File Explorer. In addition, you can also try MiniTool software to sync files.

Quick Navigation :

OneDrive Icon Missing Issue

The OneDrive is a file hosting service and synchronization service offered by Microsoft. It is an important tool in Windows, especially for those who want to sync files and folders. It also enables you to transfer files to the cloud storage.

In Windows 10, the OneDrive is always displayed on the right of the Taskbar. The icon is the gateway to access the OneDrive. However, unfortunately, the OneDrive icon sometimes may disappear from the taskbar, making users have difficulty in accessing OneDrive. In addition, OneDrive icon also disappears in the File Explorer.

OneDrive icon missing Windows 10 is a severe problem indeed. So, this post will guide you on how to fix the problem Windows 10 OneDrive missing from Taskbar and File Explorer. The solutions will be displayed one by one.

How to Fix OneDrive Icon Missing from Taskbar?

To begin with, we will demonstrate how to fix the issue OneDrive icon missing from the notification area. If your OneDrive icon disappears from the Taskbar, try these solutions.

Solution 1. Making Sure OneDrive Icon Is not Showing in Hidden Area

If you have a lot of icons on the Taskbar or the System Tray, some icons will be hidden. So if you find the OneDrive has missed from the Taskbar, check whether it is hidden firstly.

Onedrive Shared Folder Not Showing In Explorer Browser

Then just click the upward arrow-like icon the Taskbar and check whether the OneDrive icon is here.

Solution 2. Enable OneDrive Icon in Taskbar

If the OneDrive is not hidden in the Taskbar, you need the second method to solve the issue OneDrive icon missing. In this solution, you can check whether you have enabled the OneDrive icon in Taskbar. If not, you need to do that.

Now, we will show you how to enable OneDrive icon in Taskbar.

Step 1: Open Taskbar settings

  1. Right-click on the Taskbar.
  2. You will see a context menu and choose Taskbar settings to continue.

Step 2: Enable OneDrive icon in Taskbar

1. In the popup windows, please scroll down to the Notification area and choose Select which icons appear on the taskbar to continue.

2. Find out the Microsoft OneDrive, and then change the toggle switch to On.

After that, you can exit the Taskbar settings window and check whether the issue OneDrive icon missing from Taskbar is solved.

Disabling or removing OneDrive in Windows 10 would be an easy job. This post will tell you how to disable or remove OneDrive with a few steps.

Solution 3. Reset OneDrive

If the above solutions do not work to OneDrive cloud icon missing, you can try following solution. In this solution, try resetting OneDrive.

Onedrive Shared Folder Not Showing In Explorer Browser

Now, we will show you how to reset OneDrive with the step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Open Run program

  1. Press Windows key and R key together to open Run dialog.
  2. Copy and paste the following code to the box and click OK to continue.

%localappdata%MicrosoftOneDriveonedrive.exe

Step 2: Start to reset OneDrive

1. Then a window of Microsoft OneDrive setup up will appear. The OneDrive will be initialized for first use.
2. Then you are required to sign in OneDrive.
3. After that, you will see the OneDrive icon is available in the Taskbar. Right-click it and choose Settings.

4. In the pop-up window, please go to the Settings tab and check the option Start OneDrive automatically when I sign in to Windows. Then click OK to continue.

After that, you can see the issue OneDrive icon not showing is solved and it is in the Taskbar. Then it will be launched automatically when you sign in Windows. In addition, this solution also can be used to fix the issue OneDrive icon missing from File Explorer. For more solutions to OneDrive icon not showing in File Explorer, we will show them in the following section.

Solution 4. Check Policy Settings

To fix the issue Windows 10 OneDrive missing, we will demonstrate you the fourth solution. You can try checking the Policy settings.

Now, we will show you the tutorials.

Step 1: Open Local Group Policy Editor window

  1. Press Windows key and R key together to open Run dialog.
  2. In the box, input gpedit.msc in the box and click OK to continue.

Onedrive Folder Not Showing Files

Step 2: Check policy settings

1. In the Local Group Policy Editor windows, navigate to the OneDrive folder according to the following path.

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > OneDrive

2. On the right panel, choose Prevent the usage of OneDrive for file storage and double-click it.
3. In the pop-up window, choose Not Configured, and then click Apply and OK to confirm the changes.

When you have finished all steps, you can reboot your computer and check the issue OneDrive icon missing from Taskbar is solved.

Besides, this method also can be used to fix the issue OneDrive icon missing Windows 10 from File Explorer. And we will not mention this method in the How to Fix OneDrive Icon Missing from File Explorer section again.

Solution 5. Set up OneDrive from Scratch

If none of the solutions is effective, you may need to reinstall OneDrive. And now, we will show you how to reinstall the OneDrive with the step-by-step guide.

Note: Reinstalling the OneDrive will remove all locally stored files. So please back up files before continuing.

Here is the tutorial.

Step 1: Open Command Line Window

  1. Type Command Prompt in the search box and choose the best-matched one.
  2. Right-click it to choose Run as administrator.

Step 2: Type the commands

In the command line window, type the commands one by one and hit Enter to continue.

For Windows 10 32-bit:

%SystemRoot%System32OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall

%SystemRoot%System32OneDriveSetup.exe /install

For Windows 64-bit:

%SystemRoot%SysWOW64OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall

%SystemRoot%SysWOW64OneDriveSetup.exe /install

If you don’t know what version Windows 10 you own, read the post: What Version of Windows Do I Have and How to Switch Version Safely?

After all steps are finished, you can reboot your computer and check whether the issue OneDrive icon missing is solved.

How to Fix OneDrive Icon Missing from File Explorer?

As we have mentioned in the above section, the OneDrive icon may disappear from Taskbar and File Explorer. We have introduced how to fix OneDrive icon missing from the notification area. And in this section, we will show how to solve OneDrive icon missing in File Explorer.

Solution 1. Remove All OneDrive Entries

To fix OneDrive icon missing in File Explorer, you can try removing all OneDrive entries in Registry.

We will show you the detailed tutorials in the following section.

Note: Making some changes in the Registry is a risky thing, so please back up the computer in advance so as to avoid some accidents. In addition, this solution only works for Windows 7/8. If you are a Windows 10 owner, try other solutions.

Step 1: Open Registry Editor window

  1. Press Windows key and R key together to open Run dialog.
  2. Input regedit in the box and click OK to continue.

Step 2: Remove OneDrive entries

1. In the Registry Editor window, go to Edit tab and choose Find… to continue.

2. In the box, input onedrive and check all Look at Then click Find Next to continue.

3. Then remove the OneDrive entry by clicking Delete. They are several OneDrive entries, so find and remove them one by one with the same steps.

When you have finished all steps, reboot your computer to check whether the OneDrive icon missing issue is solved.

Solution 2. Modify the Registry

Now, we will show you another solution to Windows 10 OneDrive icon missing. In this solution, you can modify the Registry.

Step 1: Open Registry Editor window

  1. Press Windows key and R key together to open Run dialog.
  2. Input regedit in the box and click OK to continue.

Step 2: Modify the Registry

1. In the Registry Editor window, please navigate to the following folder. If you don’t have the OneDrive key, you should create a new one.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Policies/Microsoft/Windows/OneDrive

2. On the right panel, right-click the DisableFileSyncNGSC string and choose Modify to continue. If it is missing, right-click the right panel and choose New and DWORD(32-bit)value to create a new one.
3. Then change its value data to 0. Then click OK to continue.

When you have finished all the steps, you can reboot your computer to take effect and check whether the issue OneDrive cloud icon missing is solved.

Solution 3. Use Other File Sync Software

If you have tries all the above solutions, but the issue OneDrive icon missing still occurs. You can choose to try another piece of file sync software.

Besides the OneDrive icon missing issue, you may also encounter some other issues during the use process, such as OneDrive sync not working or OneDrive sync pending.

So, in order to reduce the troubles, you can try other file sync software. Hence, MiniTool ShadowMaker is a good choice. It is a piece of professional synchronization and backup software. It enables you to sync files to two or more locations so as to keep data safe.

Apart from that, MiniTool ShadowMaker also helps you to sync large files quick and easy. If you have a large number of files to be synced, you can choose to clone the whole hard drive to another one. Even, you can choose to clone the OS from HDD to SSD.

With so many features, try MiniTool ShadowMaker to sync files to another hard drive. You can get MiniTool ShadowMaker Trial from the following button or choose to purchase an advanced edition.

Now, we will show you how to sync files to another hard drive with MiniTool ShadowMaker.

Step 1: Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker

  1. Download MiniTool ShadowMaker and install it.
  2. Launch it.
  3. Click Keep Trial.
  4. Click Connect in This Computer to continue.

Step 2: Select Sync Source

  1. After entering its main interface, go to the Sync page.
  2. Click Source module to choose file sync source. Click OK to continue.

Step 3: Select sync destination

  1. Click Destination module to choose sync destination.
  2. Here are five paths available including Administrator, Libraries, Computer, Network and Shared folders. Decide where you want to save the synchronized files and click OK. It is recommended to choose an external hard drive.

Step 4: Start to Sync Files

  1. After selecting the sync files and destination, click Sync Now to sync files.
  2. Or you can choose to click Sync Later and restart this task in the Manage page.

When you have finished all steps, you have successfully synchronized files to another hard drive. With this file sync software, don’t worry about what to do when encountering OneDrive icon missing from Taskbar or File Explorer again.

Bottom Line

In conclusion, this post has listed several solutions to OneDrive icon missing from Taskbar and File Explorer. If you have the same problem, try these solutions.

If you have any better solution to OneDrive cloud icon missing, you can share it on the comment zone.

If you have any problem about this post or MiniTool ShadowMaker, you can contact us via the email [email protected] and we will reply to you as soon as possible.