M365 Changelog: Exclude specific files from OneDrive sync on macOS

MC251868 – This new feature setting will allow you to exclude newly added OneDrive files from syncing to the cloud by file name or extension on macOS devices.

This will rollout to the OneDrive sync app on macOS.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 80684.

When this will happen

Microsoft will begin rolling this out in late April and expect to complete rollout mid-May.

How this will affect your organization

This setting lets you enter keywords to prevent the OneDrive sync app from uploading certain files to OneDrive or SharePoint. You can enter complete names, such as “setup.exe” or use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard character to represent a series of characters, such as *.pst. Keywords aren’t case-sensitive.

If you enable this setting, the sync app doesn’t upload new files that match the keywords you specified. No errors appear for the skipped files, and the files remain in the local OneDrive folder.

In Finder, the files appear with an “Excluded from sync” icon.

Users will also see a message in the OneDrive activity center that explains why the files aren’t syncing.

What you need to do to prepare

If you are currently using the admin center setting to block certain file types from being uploaded from the OneDrive sync app, you will need to first enable this new setting, make sure it’s applied by restarting the OneDrive sync app, and then disable that current setting in admin center.

If you enable this setting, the sync app will not upload new files that match the rules you specified. There is no impact on existing files uploaded to OneDrive and SharePoint.Additional information