OneDrive on Mac

OneDrive works great on macOS. Microsoft maintains a full-featured native app.

Install

brew install --cask onedrive

Or download from the Mac App Store (same app, different update mechanism).

Setup

1. Launch OneDrive
2. Sign in with your Microsoft account (personal or work/school)
3. Choose which folders to sync
4. OneDrive appears in Finder sidebar under "Locations"

Finder Integration

OneDrive adds status icons to your files in Finder:

Icon	Meaning
☁️ Cloud	Online-only (downloads on demand)
✅ Green check	Available locally and synced
🔄 Sync arrows	Currently syncing
🔒 Lock	Shared file, someone else is editing

Files On-Demand

OneDrive on Mac supports Files On-Demand: files show in Finder but only download when you open them. This saves disk space on MacBook Neo's smaller SSD.

• Right-click a file → Free Up Space to make it online-only
• Right-click a folder → Always Keep on This Device for offline access

Known Quirks

• OneDrive vs iCloud Desktop sync: Don't sync your Desktop folder to both iCloud and OneDrive. Pick one.
• Symlinks: OneDrive doesn't follow symlinks. Keep actual files in the OneDrive folder.
• Special characters: Avoid #, %, and trailing spaces in filenames. OneDrive on Mac handles them worse than on Windows.