Getting the “You’re already syncing a shortcut to a folder from this shared library” while syncing up folders in SharePoint or OneDrive. While SharePoint and OneDrive are integrated together to provide a seamless cloud experience to the users, sometimes synchronization errors like this one surfaces at client ends. Solving this problem won’t take much time.
NOTE – This is not an error. Users can’t use both the ‘Sync’ and the ‘Add Shortcut to My Files’ feature at the same time for any SharePoint library files. While the folder is already in the OneDrive folder, it can’t re-sync the same folder multiple times, which shall then create multiple copies of the same folder. This is a predetermined configuration that is placed to avoid such irregularities.
Fix 1 – Delete the Shortcut from OneDrive folder
You have to delete the existing shortcut from the OneDrive folder directly from the Windows machine.
Step 1 – To do this, search for OneDrive from the taskbar and open it up.
Wait for a few seconds, and you will see the OneDrive logo has appeared on the taskbar.
Step 2 – Right-click the OneDrive icon and tap the “Pause Syncing” option there.
Step 3 – Choose the “2 hours” option to pause the OneDrive syncing process briefly.
Step 4 – Now, locate the shortcut folder in the OneDrive. It will be easily distinguishable as it has a small link icon associated to its name.
Step 5 – Simply delete the shortcut from the OneDrive folder.
Once you have deleted the shortcut folder, close the OneDrive and retry syncing the files afresh.
Fix 2 – Use the OneDrive online to remove the shortcut
If you are having any problem finding that shortcut file on the OneDrive locally on your computer, you can take the online approach to do it.
Step 1 – Load up the Microsoft 365 on your browser.
Step 2 – Log in using your Microsoft credentials. Once you have logged in, tap the “OneDrive” from the left pane to load it up.
Step 3 – Go to the “My Files” tab on the left-hand panel.
Step 4 – On the right-hand pane, look for the shortcut folder there in the OneDrive folder.
Step 5 – Right-click the file and tap “Remove” to remove it from your OneDrive.
After removing the shortcut from there, try to re-sync the folder once again. This time, there will be no contradictory issues.
Fix 3 – Log out and log in to OneDrive
Logging out of your OneDrive and then try to log in to the service. Doing this should fix the synchronization issues on OneDrive.
Step 1 – Launch the OneDrive program on your computer.
Step 2 – Then, right-click the cloud icon on the OneDrive and tap the ⚙ icon to load up the OneDrive settings.
Step 3 – On the OneDrive Settings console, go to the “Account” tab.
Step 4 – You will find your Microsoft account credentials on the right-hand pane. Use the “Unlink this PC” option.
Step 5 – Follow the on-screen steps and complete the process of logging out of the OneDrive app.
Step 6 – Next, close everything and restart your computer.
Step 7 – After the computer restarts, return to the OneDrive client. It will automatically prompt for your log-in information.
Once you have logged in to the OneDrive client with proper credentials, you won’t see the Sharepoint folder in the File Explorer.
Step 8 – Next, open up your SharePoint folder. Later, you can just use the ‘Sync‘ button to start the synchronization process of the shortcut file.
You won’t see the same error message again in the OneDrive client.