Hidden files in Microsoft Sharepoint web interface

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Level 1

71 points

Hidden files in Microsoft Sharepoint web interface

Hello!

I've been trying to find info about this problem but apparently, it only happens to me.

We have Sharepoint at my company and I use it to share files to other colleagues. I upload typically lots of images (JPG, GIF, PNG…) organized in folders so they find what they need.

In the last two weeks, out of the blue Sharepoint started showing my Mac invisible files. For example, if I upload "Image.jpg" I will get also "._Image.jpg". So all images are duplicated, so to speak, with other non functional copies that are in fact invisible files that I cannot see in my OS, but are showing in Sharepoint once I upload my folders. Sometimes I also get the folder invisible file ".DS_Store", one per folder uploaded.

If I had to manually create the folders and upload the files, simple tasks would take forever. Sometimes I have to share tens or hundreds of images, so this is all a problem.

Support in Sharepoint takes me to my IT local department, but the IT people in the company doesn't have a clue about this, they're Windows-centered people. But still, I have a problem and I haven't found any way to contact Microsoft directly about this to report the problem. I opened a topic in their community but there wasn't a specific area dedicated to Sharepoint, or I didn't find it.

I haven't found what triggers this, as sometimes it doesn't happen. Tested uploading images and creating the folders in SP. Tested uploading folders nested into 2 levels with 10, 20, 100, 1000 images. I can reproduce with one particular folder with thousand if images and dozens of folders.

I tried to disable .DS_Store creation but it only works with mounted volumes, not web interface. The files are still created.

I'm using Chrome. The problem doesn't happen with Safari, but all the company is using Chrome, so I want it to work with Chrome.

Has this ever happened to you? What did you do to fix it? Thanks for any input.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Jan 17, 2023 12:53 AM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,144 points

Jan 18, 2023 4:34 AM in response to Carola Clavo

Is the folder you are uploading on a non-Mac file format like EXfat or MS-DOS? If so, can you put them on a Mac formatted drive folder?

That would eliminate the meta-data, and if you never set any view options for the folder, it should prevent writing of the DS store.

you can clean the meta-data from the non-Mac storage in Terminal IUsing,

dot_clean -m /path/to/folder

replace the path to folder with the actual path to the folder you want to clean. If it’s always the same, you could wrap that all up into an Automator action or shortcut a

If it’s not the same name, you can just enter the command up to you and leave a space after the -m, then drag the folder into the terminal window and hit return.

you should be able to prevent writing the DS store file by not opening the folder in the finder.

if the folder is on a Mac formatted drive, then that chrome extension is doing something to copy the files to a non-Mac format, using macOS tools, and I don’t know how to prevent that.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,144 points

Jan 18, 2023 10:32 AM in response to Carola Clavo

My statement had nothing to do with what SharePoint is hosted upon. It is the folder the files reside on when you go to upload them. The only time the meta-data is stripped off the file and converted to a dot under bar files is when macOS copies the file to a non-supported file system.

that should not be the process of uploading files via a web interface, but since I know nothing about how chrome works it is possible it could be doing something silly like that. But, I doubt it.

Again, my question is where are you storing the files that you upload via chrome? For instance, if you store them on a USB stick and upload that, that may be the source of the problem, and it can be easily fixed.

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,144 points

Jan 17, 2023 2:14 AM in response to Carola Clavo

When you copy files to a file system that does not support metadata stored with the file, macOS writes the metadata to ._ files. They are not copies of the file. When you open folders in Finder and set any view options like sorting, it will write a .DS_Store file to remember those settings.

Adjust SMB browsing behavior in macOS - Apple Support

I don’t know if that will prevent writing metadata. Can you upload via web interface instead of mounting the share on your Mac?

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Answer 4

Carola Clavo Author

Level 1

71 points

Jan 18, 2023 10:44 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hello again :) I misunderstood completely! Thanks for your explanation, it now makes sense to me.

Yes, I was uploading files from an external drive and also tried from my Macbook, either way invisible files are created in Sharepoint, but when using the external disk it worsens. In which way? Only a .DS_Store from the internal HD VS that and one extra file per file uploaded. I could reformat the disk again which is ExFAT now, but that way I wouldn't be able to share it at all with Windows machines if I had to, as far as I know.

I wish the fix was easy, but moving the files is not possible. We're using Adobe's Creative Cloud that can't be synced partially, and the Macbook has a tiny hard drive so I have to carry the disk around.

My solutions so far are:

Format the disk and have only a ".DS_Store" file per folder.
Use two browsers, Chrome for everything and Safari to upload files to Sharepoint.

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Answer 5

Carola Clavo Author

Level 1

71 points

Jan 18, 2023 2:06 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hi, yes. I'm copying entire folders to Sharepoint, that is how it works. You can copy files, or you can copy folders from your Finder to the Sharepoint page in your browser, just dragging them. It is an online storage, part of Microsoft 365 that my company uses to share files internally, along with many other services and apps (Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel…). It much works like Dropbox, or Google Drive, or any other online storage solution.

The problem has three legs: The browser, macOS and Sharepoint. So I tried to fix it investigating this three things. The only thing that worked for me is using Safari+macOS+Sharepoint. I could change my browser but I actually prefer Chrome, but I cannot change my OS (I do not want to switch to Windows, ever), and I can't change Sharepoint because is a company-wide tool.

I've contacted Microsoft and Chrome communities about this and everyone points their fingers to someone else, so I'm not being really successful resolving my problem. People at Chrome forums say they don't see the relation to Chrome, although it is with their browser when it fails. Safari works and files are copied and can't see the invisible files.

People at Microsoft Community explained to me what hiddens files are 🤷🏻 and then suggested to try Microsoft Edge. You have got to laugh! Then they gave me a link to their support, but only admins of the Sharepoint system can open a support case and the IT department in my company doesn't completely understand the problem. Again, they are focused in Windows systems and solutions, much like Microsoft.

So… I think I'm out of luck with this one. 😭

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Answer 6

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,144 points

Jan 18, 2023 5:06 PM in response to Carola Clavo

If the drive/folder name is always the same, you could use a Shortcut to strip all of the metadata files, and likely the .DS_Store. Then, it should not copy the hidden files.

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Answer 7

Carola Clavo Author

Level 1

71 points

Jan 17, 2023 4:03 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hello! Thanks for replying :)

Yes, I know this are not copies, but this is how they are perceived by the people that are going to use this files.

As you can see in the original post, I'm only having the problem with Chrome, not Safari, because I'm always uploading the files using a browser, and NOT mounting any virtual disk or anything.

As far as I know, Sharepoint does not have a Mac App unlike Onedrive. So the files are not stored in my volume all the time. I upload them to the Sharepoint cloud using a browser.

I tried to use the Terminal command, but it only works with mounted volumes, so it doesn't work for me.

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Answer 8

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,144 points

Jan 17, 2023 6:15 AM in response to Carola Clavo

I have no idea about Chrome. You’d have to ask them how to stop it. Are you uploading a folder from Chrome, or individual files? The only thing I can imagine is you are saving the files on a non-Mac drive and it is copying the entire folder, not just the visible files as it should.

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Answer 9

Carola Clavo Author

Level 1

71 points

Jan 18, 2023 8:35 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hello, thank you for your suggestion, but it is impossible for me to know in which format Sharepoint space is hosted, or what format the servers are, or where the servers are, in fact. All I know is that it is a paid service, like iCloud, Dropbox or Google Drive. But it's impossible for me to know what format are used in the servers, wherever they are. They may be in our company but that is beyond me, and of course I cannot access that, or run commands, which is also way beyond my duties, I'm a graphic designer storing files.

I guess I'm done and we will have to live with this. I just informed all the area that they can delete or ignore the files starting with a period.

Thank you for your efforts! It may just stop happening, just like it started. :(

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Answer 10

Carola Clavo Author

Level 1

71 points

Jan 19, 2023 12:12 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hey thanks! I tried it, deleting the files from origin seemed promising. It took a few seconds and then uploaded one folder inside the path to Sharepoint… But the hidden files were there again!

It kind of improved, since there was only one file per folder (.DS_Store) and not all the false duplicates.

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