SkyDrive syncing problems ALL FIXED!

SkyDrive is working! Like many of you I had problems syncing SkyDrive in Windows 8.1. I liked the idea of SkyDrive being my main file system as long as it also gave me the ability to keep my files on my PC. It does with the “Make available offline” option.

What I did to fix SkyDrive were a couple of things.

• 1. I checked the SkyDrive sync engine host in task manager to see that it was working. It was.
• 2. I looked for a blue overlay on the folder that was trying to sync and did not see it.
• 3. I right clicked on the folder that was trying to sync and then clicked “view problems”

This step was the most helpful step. It showed me sub folders that had stopped the sync process. Folders like “my pictures” that was still in the online version of SkyDrive but NOT in the “my document” folder in Explorer Windows 8.1. Every time I looked at the online version I was using the SkyDrive metro app. What I was actually doing was manually syncing the folders with what was in SkyDrive online and what I saw in SkyDrive in Explorer. Since the online version of “My pictures” was empty, I deleted it. Now the online list matched the Explorer list. In both online and in Explorer I did not have a folder called “My Pictures” Now it is time to repeat step 3 to find another bogus folder.

In-between each deletion of a folder to match the online list and the Explorer list, I checked the sync engine. I also rebooted a number of times just to make sure everything was updating and the sync engine was picking up the changes. After each deletion I would go back to step 3 to see what folder was stopping the sync process. After a couple of rounds of this, sync started working great.

What started the problem for me was a renaming of my two major folders. “Paul word documents” and “Paul publisher documents”. ALL of my documents are stored in these two folders. They were not uploaded once I renamed the folder to “A Paul word documents”. That put it at the top of my list for easier access.

Just to make sure that sync was working I moved my two “A” folders out of SkyDrive to my desktop. Rebooted and then moved them back onto SkyDrive. The sync process worked like a charm. I saw the SkyDrive sync engine working. I saw a blue overlay on the folder meaning it was syncing. I looked at SkyDrive online through the Metro App and saw the "document" folder being populated with my “A” folders. I even created this document and put it in a new folder in Explorer. Within moments it appeared online with SkyDrive metro. It did take hours for the Sync to complete. My “A” folders are huge but I still have only used half of my 7 gig storage.

Try that right click, view problems to fix your SkyDrive. I am very pleased with SkyDrive again. I have been a user of SkyDrive for a long time.