OneDrive Duplicate Files Created

When OneDrive detects a conflict between a local edit and a cloud edit that cannot be merged automatically, it preserves both files. It does this by creating a duplicate file and appending your computer’s network name to the filename (for example, Budget-Desktop-PC.xlsx or Document-MacBook.docx).

This manual details how to prevent duplicate file creation by repairing cached credentials and resolving application conflicts on Windows and macOS.

Understand why OneDrive creates duplicate files

Duplicates are typically generated under the following conditions:

1. Simultaneous Offline Edits: A file is modified on two devices while offline, and both sync their changes at the same time.
2. Corrupted Credential Cache: The sync engine loses validation to modify the cloud file, leading it to save the local edits as a separate version rather than overwriting.
3. Office Collaboration (Co-authoring) Failures: Microsoft Office’s upload cache conflicts with OneDrive’s background sync engine.
4. Incorrect System Clock: A mismatch of more than 5 minutes between your computer’s system time and the cloud server’s time triggers clock-based sync collisions.

Deconflict Office application sync settings

Microsoft Office has an independent sync component that co-authors documents. If this conflicts with OneDrive:

1. Open OneDrive Settings (click the cloud icon, select the Gear Icon, and choose Settings).
2. Go to the Sync and backup or Office tab.
3. Locate the setting “Use Office applications to sync Office files that I open” (or “File collaboration”).
4. Toggle this setting OFF. This tells OneDrive to handle all file syncing directly rather than handing off Office files to the MS Office Upload Center.

1. Close OneDrive

taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe

2. Purge Office and OneDrive Credentials

Open an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell and remove the cached tokens:

cmdkey /list | findstr /i "OneDrive"

To programmatically clean all Microsoft Office and OneDrive credentials from the vault, execute:

powershell -Command "Get-Credential | Out-Null"

Or manually clear them:

1. Open the Start Menu, type Credential Manager, and press Enter.
2. Select Windows Credentials.
3. Under Generic Credentials, find entries containing MicrosoftOffice16_Data:ADAL or OneDrive Cached Credential.
4. Click Remove on each entry.

3. Clear Office File Cache

Corrupt Office caches cause constant conflict saves. Delete the cache directory:

rmdir /s /q "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\OfficeFileCache"

4. Reset and Restart OneDrive

%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset

security delete-generic-password -s "OneDrive Cached Credential" 2>/dev/null
security delete-generic-password -l "Microsoft Office Identities Settings 2" 2>/dev/null

2. Clear Office Sandbox Caches

Purge cached OneDrive database caches within Office container dirs:

rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.SharePoint-mac
rm -rf ~/Library/Group\ Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/MicrosoftRegistrationDB.reg

3. Run the Standalone OneDrive Reset Command

/Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Resources/ResetOneDriveAppStandalone.command

Safely merge and clean up duplicate files

Once the sync engines are reset, you need to clean up the existing duplicate files:

1. Verify the Master File: Open the web portal of OneDrive to verify which file version contains the latest edits.
2. Merge Offline Changes: Manually copy any unique edits from the machine-appended file (-PCName.ext) to the master file.
3. Delete Duplicates via PowerShell/Terminal:
   • Windows (PowerShell command to search and delete files containing -PCName in your OneDrive directory):

     Get-ChildItem -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\OneDrive" -Recurse -Filter "*-*" | Where-Object { $_.Name -like "*$env:COMPUTERNAME*" } | Remove-Item -Force

   • macOS (Terminal command to find and list duplicate names):

     find ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive-Personal -name "*-$(hostname)*" -type f -delete

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