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Deleting a sharepoint 'shortcut to onedrive' actually deletes all files in sharepoint instead of only shortcut

Anonymous
2021-09-30T12:23:38+00:00

We noticed different behaviour when deleting a shortcut (from sharepoint ) in someones onedrive. Sometimes shortcuts are removed and sometimes all the files in the sharepoint library are deleted. It looks like it depends on where you perform the delete and if the shortcut is expanded or not.

Reproduce (use a test sharepoint)

  1. Go to a sharepoint library and use the "add shortcut to onedrive" button. Make sure the sharepoint library contains one or more folders
  2. Open your onedrive in W10 explorer (not online onedrive)
  3. On the left go to the shortcut and select "delete". It will only delete the shortcut , not the files in sharepoint. This is as expected
  4. Do the same in step 3 but now expand the shortcut first so you can see all the folders below it.
  5. Delete the shortcut again. Windows gives an error (folder not empty) and all files in the sharepoint library are deleted.

Doing the same actions in onedrive online never deletes all the files but only the shortcut.

Is this behaviour as expected?

regards

Microsoft 365 and Office | SharePoint | For business | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-10-02T17:04:54+00:00

    Hi Arnold de Bruin,

    Thanks for sharing updates with us. We feel sorry to hear that you meet such an issue. However, we appreciate your understanding.

    First please accept my apologize for late reply.

    I check with others and really this is abnormal behavior(delete expanded shortcut folder in OneDrive sync file explorer also deleted all files in SharePoint online document library)

    Since, I also reproduce this issue from my side as well, the possible reason of this issue is related to the back-end, we suggest your contact IT admin of your organization and raise a ticket in Office 365 admin center-> Support-> New Service Request. Please don’t mind that we couldn’t provide further assistance because need to check from back-end side and we appreciate your efforts in this case. The support team will involve more resources to check from the back end and provide further help.  

    I appreciate your patience and understanding. 

    Best Regards 

    Waqas Muhammad

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. matt howell 3,496 Reputation points
    2021-10-04T21:35:20+00:00

    This is why using network locations rather than the flawed OD sync option is far safer and more intuitive. That removes the uncertainty about whether you're dealing with local copies or the online version because there's ONLY ONE VERSION. It's pretty much the same as if you were insode the native library except you're viewing it though file explorer. Much, much easier to train users working this way and you get far fewer mistakes and accidental deletions.

    19 people found this answer helpful.
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