OneDrive / Google Drive “Content Unavailable” message within Files app

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Azterix1984 Author

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15 points

OneDrive / Google Drive “Content Unavailable” message within Files app

I’ve been experiencing this issue for months in both my iPhone 11 and iPad Pro 3rd Gen, when trying to access files that are saved on either Google Drive or OneDrive, with apple’s Files App: it displays the message, “Content Unavailable” and “This folder contents cannot be displayed because of an unknown error.” I have been looking everywhere for an answer without any success.

Yes, my already updated the iOS to the latest version on both devices, and checked for updates on the apps too. I have also deleted the apps and reinstalled them, and rebooted the devices, but nothing seems to work.

iPad Pro, iPadOS 13

Posted on Jul 27, 2020 3:21 PM

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Answer 1

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Azterix1984 Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 27, 2020 4:10 PM in response to Azterix1984

I may have found a workaround to get it to work. It doesn’t solve the bug but at least you can get out of it. The issue seems to be related to the “Sorting” feature. When you are on OneDrive or Google Drive and you Sort the files by either Name, Size, Kind, or Tags, and then you leave the Files App, it stays on that sorting option you last used, and for some reason it won’t recognize the files on those apps the next time you try to access them again. To bypass this issue, do the following: (see video attached)

1) - In the Sorting options select Name. (It will not work immediately. See step 2)

2) - Tap again on either OneDrive or Google Drive, and it should now recognize your files again.

I hope this helps. It works for both iPad and iPhone. Hopefully the engineers that have been telling us that nothing is wrong with their apps, will someday figure it out and solve the problem. But at least you can now work around it.

VIDEO https://youtu.be/5CPomVQ28yI

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Answer 2

SRB NY

Level 1

23 points

Aug 1, 2020 5:24 AM in response to Azterix1984

So the OneDrive app for iPhone was updated last night, and the description of the update includes "Your Offline Files list will now be sorted from newest to oldest, as you'd expect. For those curious, this list was previously sorted on an internal database identifier--which while great for our internal database, had no place informing the file sort order." While it doesn't directly address what we've been talking about here, the description makes it sound like it might also address our problem, right?

I already had success with Azterix1984's suggestion above, but the Files app seems to let me change the order and access whatever I want in OneDrive. Fingers crossed. I'll be curious to hear what folks encounter.

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Answer 3

QuickPost

Level 10

103,371 points

Jul 27, 2020 4:05 PM in response to Azterix1984

Hello,

Try resetting iPad's settings in Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. Be certain you do not select Erase All Content and Settings as this will erase all of your information. It is a good idea to perform a backup of your iPad prior to resetting its settings.

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Answer 4

Azterix1984 Author

Level 1

15 points

Jul 30, 2020 8:42 AM in response to SRB NY

Glad I could help, and it’s not a dumb question. A lot of people are having the same issue no one has cared to fix it. It took me months of headaches, trail and error to figure out why this was happening. At least now, I can get my work done 😅

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Answer 5

SRB NY

Level 1

23 points

Jul 30, 2020 8:32 AM in response to Azterix1984

Thank you so much for this! Can't wait to try. Apologies for what might be a dumb question: I can't find the "sort by" setting in the Files app on my iPhone.

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OneDrive / Google Drive “Content Unavailable” message within Files app

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