OneDrive or SharePoint files won't sync

OneDrive is usually invisible until it is not. Start by looking at the blue or white cloud icon in the bottom-right corner of your screen, near the clock — you may need to click the small arrow to reveal hidden icons.

What the icons mean

On the OneDrive cloud icon itself:

• Plain cloud — everything is up to date and idle.
• Cloud with circling arrows — actively syncing. Leave it alone.
• Red circle with a white cross — sync is stopped and needs attention.
• Yellow triangle — a warning, often storage or a sign-in problem.
• Greyed-out cloud — OneDrive is not running or not signed in.

On individual files in File Explorer:

• Blue cloud outline — stored online only. It downloads when you open it, so you need internet.
• Green tick in a white circle — downloaded and available offline.
• Solid green circle with a white tick — marked Always keep on this device.
• Circling arrows — syncing right now.
• Red cross — this file failed to sync. Click the OneDrive icon to see why.
• Padlock — a setting on the file blocks syncing, often an unsupported character in the name.

First things to try

1. Click the OneDrive icon and read the message. It usually says exactly what is wrong: signed out, storage full, or a specific file causing trouble.
2. Check the computer is online. OneDrive fails silently and confusingly on a Wi-Fi network with no working internet.
3. Check for paused syncing. Click the OneDrive icon, then the gear, and look for Resume syncing. OneDrive pauses itself on metered connections and in battery saver, and people forget it happened.
4. Close the file. A document open on your machine — or on a colleague’s — cannot finish syncing. This is the most common cause of a file stuck at 99%.
5. Restart OneDrive. Click the icon, the gear, then Quit OneDrive. Then press the Windows key, type OneDrive, and open it again.
6. Restart the computer if the above has not helped.

Storage is full

Click the OneDrive icon and the gear, then look at the usage figure. If you are at your limit, nothing new syncs.

• Empty the OneDrive Recycle Bin online at office.com — deleted files count against your quota for 30 days.
• Look for large files that do not belong in OneDrive: video, disk images, old backups, ISO files.
• Move shared team material to SharePoint rather than keeping personal copies.

If you genuinely need more space, tell us and we will sort the licensing.

“There is a conflict” or duplicate files appear

You will see two versions, one named something like Report-DESKTOP-A1B2C3.docx. This happens when the same file is edited in two places before syncing catches up.

1. Open both and compare.
2. Merge whatever you need into one.
3. Rename the good copy properly and delete the other.

To avoid it: use Open in app from Teams or SharePoint rather than downloading, editing, and re-uploading. And avoid working on the same document offline on two machines.

Files that will not sync no matter what

Certain names and locations are rejected outright:

• Characters that are not allowed: " * : < > ? / \ |
• Names starting or ending with a space, or ending with a full stop
• Reserved names like CON, PRN, AUX, NUL
• Extremely long full paths — a deeply nested folder structure can exceed the limit even when each name is short
• Outlook data files (.pst) and database files, which should never be in OneDrive

Rename or move the offending file and syncing resumes on its own.

Recovering a deleted or overwritten file

Deleted: check the Windows Recycle Bin, then the OneDrive online Recycle Bin at office.com — items stay there for 30 days.

Overwritten with a worse version: right-click the file and choose Version history. Office files keep previous versions, and you can preview and restore any of them. This works from File Explorer and from the web.

Widespread damage — many files renamed or scrambled at once — stop using the computer and call us immediately. That pattern can indicate ransomware, and OneDrive has a bulk restore facility we can use, but the sooner we act the better the result.

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Sync still stuck? Call 440-991-9980 or email support@iconiumnetworks.com. Tell us what the OneDrive icon says and whether it is one file or everything — that narrows it down immediately.