estrictions and limitations when you sync SharePoint libraries to your computer through OneDrive for Business Print Print Email Email

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2933738

Number of items that can be synced

• You can sync up to 20,000 items in your OneDrive for Business library. This includes folders and files.
• You can sync up to 5,000 items in a SharePoint library. This includes folders and files. These are the libraries that you find on various SharePoint sites, such as team sites and community sites, libraries that other people created, or that you created from your Sites page. This also includes syncing other people's OneDrive personal sites that you may have access to. You can sync multiple SharePoint libraries.

Size limit for syncing files

In any SharePoint library, you can sync files of up to 2 gigabytes (GB).

Character limit for files and folders

These limits apply to files and folders that you add to a synced library folder for uploading to SharePoint.

• In SharePoint Server 2013, file names can have up to 128 characters.
• In SharePoint Online, file names can have up to 256 characters.
• Folder names can have up to 250 characters.
• Folder name and file name combinations can have up to 250 characters.

Invalid characters

SharePoint Online

The following characters in file names aren't supported when you sync OneDrive for Business with SharePoint Online:

\ 
/ 
: 
* 
? 
" 
< 
> 
| 
# 
%

Additionally, a file name that begins with a tilde (~) isn't supported.

SharePoint Server 2013

The following characters in file name aren't supported when you sync OneDrive for Business with SharePoint Server 2013:

\ 
/ 
: 
* 
? 
" 
< 
> 
| 
# 
{ 
} 
% 
~ 
&

 A file name that begins with a period (.) or a tilde (~) isn't supported.

Unsupported folder name

When you sync OneDrive for Business with SharePoint Online or SharePoint 2013, a folder named "forms" isn't supported at the root level for a list or library. This occurs because "forms" is a hidden default folder that's used to store templates and forms for the library.

GUID strings as file names

The GUID string structure is supported in SharePoint Online.

The following GUID string structure isn't supported for file names in SharePoint 2013:

'{' + 8 hexadecimal + '-' + 4 hexadecimal + '-' + 4 hexadecimal + '-' + 4 hexadecimal + '-' + 12 hexadecimal +'}'

For example, a GUID that matches this structure resembles the following:

{9b6634a7-26b7-40a2-a48e-6f967d89c29e}

Invalid file types

You can't upload files that have a *.tmp or *.ds_store extension, and you can't upload desktop.ini, thumbs.db, or ehthumbs.db files.

Additionally, you can't upload files whose file types are blocked on the SharePoint site. If your organization is running SharePoint Server, the list of blocked files may vary, depending on what your administrator sets up. If your organization is running SharePoint Online, the default list of blocked files is fixed and can't be changed. To see a list of the default blocked files, go to the following Microsoft website:

File types that cannot be added to a list or library

OneNote notebooks

Because OneNote notebooks have their own sync mechanism, they aren't synced by the OneDrive for Business sync client. You can upload OneNote notebooks to a SharePoint Online page. However, they won't sync with through the OneDrive for Business sync client application. Additionally, if you add a OneNote notebook to a local folder that syncs with SharePoint Online, the notebook won't sync with the SharePoint site and may cause other sync errors within the local folder.

Open files can't be synced

Any file that’s currently open by an application (for example, an Excel .xlsx file) can't be synced by OneDrive for Business.

To sync the file, close any application where the file is currently being used, and then sync the file.

Lookup columns in a library

The SharePoint Online or OneDrive for Business library can't exceed the lookup column threshold. For more information, go to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

2927386 "We couldn’t sync this library" error when you use the OneDrive for Business sync client

Additional resources

For more information about how to resolve problems that you might have with the OneDrive for Business sync client, go to the following Microsoft website:

Solve problems you’re having with the OneDrive for Business sync app

For more information about the characters that you can't use in site names, folder names, and file names in earlier versions of SharePoint, go to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

905231 Information about the characters that you cannot use in site names, folder names, and file names in SharePoint