OneDrive on Mac (Catalina 10.15.7) - We can't sync your XYZ folder
We can't sync your XYZ folder
Sorry, we can't add your XYZ folder right now. Please try again.
This message appears when I try to sync a folder from a SharePoint site outside my business (Office365) domain. That is, I have MYBusiness.Sharepoint.com folders that are syncing correctly and I want to add a OutsideBusiness.Sharepoint.com folder, but I receive the message shown above.
The same folder can be synced on my PC Laptop.
The same folder can be synced on my 2020 MacBookPro (16,2) running Big Sur (11.5.2) and OneDrive 21.139 from the AppStore.
The folder can NOT be synced on my 2014 MacBookAir (6,2) running Catalina (10.15.7).
Despite the age, my MBAir performs all of my business (Office365 suite) tasks very well and I would like to continue to use it as such. The OneDrive sync function with the on-demand feature is absolutely perfect for what I need. My MBPro is more of my personal computer that I use for video editing and I would prefer not to "cross the streams" as it were. Therefore, I continue the quest to make OneDrive on the MBAir perform properly.
Here is a list of things that I have tried on the MBAir:
- Resetting OneDrive using ResetOneDriveAppStandalone.com from within the app folder.
- Installing OneDrive version 21.139 from the AppStore.
- Installing OneDrive version 21.160 from MSFT (so called standalone version)
- Installing OneDrive version 21.150 from some place where I found it.
- Completely re-installing Catalina from scratch
- Booting in SafeMode
- Deleted other synced folders to start fresh with OneDrive
- Creating a new user on the computer
- Added <key>BlockExternalSync</key><FALSE/> to several related OneDrive plist files
- Created the desired folders to try and trick OneDrive into thinking they already exist
- Clicked the sync button from the OutsideBusiness.SharePoint.com folder
- Clicked the sync button from MS Teams where the same folder is available
- Copied all viewable instances of OutsideBusiness in the plist files from the MBPro
- Installed OneDrive version 21.030 from space where I found it, but it seems to automatically update to version 21.160.
A few clues:
I am >90% sure that I was syncing this folder in ~July 2021. I am 100% sure I was syncing this folder in ~April 2021. I believe it was an update of OneDrive in June that broke the syncing of the OutsideBusiness.sharepoint.com folder. I also remember that with that update, OneDrive forgot all of the MYBusiness.sharepoint.com folders that I was syncing and I had to re-add them (which is tedious if you have more than a few folders to sync).
On one instance when installing OneDrive 21.030, it looked the OutsideBusiness folder was going to start syncing, but then OneDrive quite, updated itself, and the sync process failed.
When I try to sync the OutsideBusiness folder, the OneDrive cloud icon in the menu bar (top right corner) has the X overlay as the process fails. I've seen this symbol before if there is a sync error or connection error for OneDrive.
By editing several plist files and starting OneDrive while not connected to a network, I was able to run OneDrive 21.083, but this did not resolve the issue!
In a final move of desperation, I installed 10.15.7 (19H15) from ~November 2020 and the latest OneDrive from the App Store (21.160) which SOLVED THE PROBLEM! Therefore, I suspect one of the Catalina security updates created my problem and I would guess it was the July 2021 update since that corresponds to when I remember the issue starting.
My questions to the community:
Is there anyway to isolate this issue or prove that it was the latest security update that caused my issue? I would like to avoid reloading the OS again if possible...
What is the real world security risk if I leave my MBAir on 10.15.7 (19H15) until I finally decide to retire it once Apple stops supporting it?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
