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Does OneDrive not work for anyone with M1? It crashes constantly on my M1 MBA, that I can't use it at all. Also with this change, where Google Drive and OneDrive mounts a virtual drive, it also prevents time machine from backing up the folder. So I've moved everything to my iCloud drive instead, and time machine works on that drive (go figure, Apple?) I'll stick with iCloud for now, and just use the other cloud drives for sharing - which iCloud seems to be much worse at.
 
From what I've found, a recent OneDrive update (maybe App Store update on Jan 24?) has changed OneDrive to now behave similarly to the recent Google Drive changes. OneDrive used to sync a folder in your User's folder, but now it's actually mounting a drive/container at root. This is how Google Drive is, and one of the reasons I hated and stopped using it. I found there being too much sync/network/cpu activity for what I know was there and actually being modified.

Also, it seems that this has screwed up my 2 Windows 11 VMs due to having the OneDrive folders synced from the client, and because the Desktop folder is synced I was missing a few things (including some shortcuts). I'll have to go thru and reconfigure those each to just have OneDrive setup in the VM manually instead of from within Parallel's settings. Maybe there'll be an update soon to address that.
 
As I understand it, a major issue is that when you download files for local storage, OneDrive puts the files in a hidden folder that can't be accessed easily and is not included in spotlight searched.
 
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When i left a particular job a few years ago, most of my personal files were using apple's iWork suite, and work files, which weren't too many, were Office.
In the new job, i needed to use Office more, so started using 365 on my Mac, and then migrated all my iWork stuff across. I initially tried OneDrive, but didn't like how it synced with my devices, nor it's interface. so i used iCloud. iCloud got more of an update, and it's now become my default cloud service, and doesn't seem to cause me any issues.
 
As I understand it, a major issue is that when you download files for local storage, OneDrive puts the files in a hidden folder that can't be accessed easily and is not included in spotlight searched.
Yes, it seems like OneDrive (and Google Drive) are now not included in Spotlight Indexing, at least from what I can see in Settings. It does show "Documents", but I'd agree that's probably a pretty loose definition...


I used to called this software One problem. Sticking with Dropbox and iCloud.
In the end, I'd assume only iCloud folders will truly sync in the way we've come to expect, and all other sync services like OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box will all be forced to be in compliance with Apple's API's or rules, and will all be setup as Containers at the root level.


I think the tl;dr is that if you're worried about performance between OneDrive & Google Drive, they both seem to behave the same in that they both utilize a container style system now. I have seen an increase in network activity, and have seen OneDrive show up more in Little Snitch, and I know none of the files have changed at all. Hopefully some early bugs get worked out sooner than later.
 
OneDrive for Windows:
1643723049474.png

OneDrive for Mac, before update:
1643723147233.jpeg


1643723171065.jpeg



OneDrive for Mac, after update:
1643723198854.png
 
Apple: We're changing stuff.
Microsoft: Ok, we will adjust our app to your new API's
Users: Microsoft, WTF!?!

Typical.
Recent Apple iCloud issue which caused third party developers to be blamed for applications not syncing properly:

Mobile carriers accused of blocking iCloud Private Relay when they did not block it:
 
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Under 'Manage Blocked Apps' I see AmpLibraryAgent listed by default? I didn't add this. Also, thanks for adding this? Looking into how AmpLibraryAgent interacts with OneDrive, this could be saving me a lot of needless data writes and even more CPU/Network Activity.

Screen Shot 2022-02-01 at 7.49.38 AM.pngScreen Shot 2022-02-01 at 7.49.48 AM.png
 
The way the changes in macOS are described by MacRumors and generally interpreted is wrong. I have little experience with Dropbox but OneDrive does not nor has it ever used kernel extensions. It is available from the Mac App Store, and that precludes the inclusion of any kernel extensions (yes, there is also a direct download version, but AFAIK it works essentially the same).

The changes in 12.3 force the cloud providers to change the way Files on Demand work, yes. But nobody forced Microsoft to make Files on Demand mandatory, they could have made sure to keep the “all files are local” mode available – but they did not.

Even the oft-maligned iCloud Drive lets you keep all files locally (by switching off Optimize Mac Storage).
 
This seems like a situation of people just wanting to complain. Dropbox is moving to working this way, iCloud Drive already works this way. By using Apple's APIs directly, instead of incredibly problematic KEXTs, we all benefit.
 
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This seems like a situation of people just wanting to complain. Dropbox is moving to working this way, iCloud Drive already works this way. By using Apple's APIs directly, instead of incredibly problematic KEXTs, we all benefit.
As already mentioned, OneDrive had never used kexts in the first place. iCloud Drive lets you store your files locally if you prefer that, the new OneDrive client does not.
 
The way the changes in macOS are described by MacRumors and generally interpreted is wrong. I have little experience with Dropbox but OneDrive does not nor has it ever used kernel extensions. It is available from the Mac App Store, and that precludes the inclusion of any kernel extensions (yes, there is also a direct download version, but AFAIK it works essentially the same).

The changes in 12.3 force the cloud providers to change the way Files on Demand work, yes. But nobody forced Microsoft to make Files on Demand mandatory, they could have made sure to keep the “all files are local” mode available – but they did not.

Even the oft-maligned iCloud Drive lets you keep all files locally (by switching off Optimize Mac Storage).

I think they actually made the right move here. It looks like, due to changes coming in macOS 12.3, that Microsoft was forced to stop being able to just sync folders and to migrate/move the entire contents to an APFS Container. And considering some folks have 1TB or more of items in OneDrive, that would mean moving ALL of that stuff from a folder to a Container after OneDrive was launched once updated. That would probably be more of a disaster, IMO. Also, once the new Container is setup with the respective folder contents, NOT having it automatically start to re-download everything again was also probably the smart move. Who wants to have to re-download everything again? Seems like Apple's forcing their hand in this.
 
Did anybody else find the story confusing? I can't tell if this is something MS is planning or something it has already implemented. Moreover, the story doesn't tell us if it is possible to adjust preferences to configure OneDrive to have files stored locally and synced to OneDrive online storage. Does the current setting 'Always Keep On This Device' for a parent folder adjust things so that all subfolders and files have the same setting? Perhaps I am being obtuse, but the story has a great deal of missing information.

Anyway, the one thing no company should ever do is f*** up storage of files. And frankly, with tensions in Ukraine and the threat of widespread cyber warfare, it is lunacy to rely solely on access to files via a network.
 
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Having files on the cloud and not locally is ridiculous. The main reason for using cloud is having a backup for your files. What sense does a backup make, if you delete the original? How many cloud users to really work on their documents from more than one device?
 
I think they actually made the right move here. It looks like, due to changes coming in macOS 12.3, that Microsoft was forced to stop being able to just sync folders and to migrate/move the entire contents to an APFS Container. And considering some folks have 1TB or more of items in OneDrive, that would mean moving ALL of that stuff from a folder to a Container after OneDrive was launched once updated. That would probably be more of a disaster, IMO. Also, once the new Container is setup with the respective folder contents, NOT having it automatically start to re-download everything again was also probably the smart move. Who wants to have to re-download everything again? Seems like Apple's forcing their hand in this.
Fair enough, I agree that in this situation they probably had to make this the default behavior. What is inexcusable is the lack of choice to switch back to the fully local mode. Even at the cost of re-downloading your 1 TB.
 
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I've heard that Dropbox has/will have the same issue on Mac OS 12.3. Is there any reason why Dropbox and Microsoft couldn't have updated their apps to accommodate the new API earlier?
Apple's decision to make the change in 12.3 was bizarre, not communicated in advance, and caught everyone off guard.

Semantic Versioning, which everyone thought Apple was following, is not random. You change the first number when you make backwards incompatible changes. You change the second number when you add new features. You change the third number when the APIs are unchanged but you're making bug/security fixes.

Apple changed the second number but made backwards incompatible changes - features which worked fine for the past decade were suddenly broken by Apple.

Apple did communicate that they would make the change at some point - everyone assumed it would be in a major update. Historically, Apple does their major updates in the Fall, and they give a heads up on all their major Fall updates during WWDC, giving 3 months of time for companies to update their programs accordingly to stop using the old APIs.

Honestly, this is just another sign that Apple doesn't understand software and that we should switch to another OS.
 
Fair enough, I agree that in this situation they probably had to make this the default behavior. What is inexcusable is the lack of choice to switch back to the fully local mode. Even at the cost of re-downloading your 1 TB.
There is a right click option for 'Always Keep on This Device' at the root level of your OneDrive folder.
At least there's that...

Screen Shot 2022-02-01 at 8.09.06 AM.png
 
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