SharePoint Metadata Issues

This article provides a diagnostic checklist and troubleshooting guide to resolve SharePoint Metadata Issues (such as missing column values, properties failing to promote or demote, required metadata synchronization blocks, and term store synchronization failures).

Root Causes / Meaning

SharePoint metadata issues typically occur when local client properties (Office document properties) fail to synchronize with SharePoint online library columns. Key causes include:

1. Office Document Cache (ODC) Corruption: The local cache used by Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) conflicts with the OneDrive synchronization engine.
2. Required Column Policies: A SharePoint document library has columns marked as “Required,” but the uploaded document lacks these properties, blocking synchronization.
3. Property Promotion/Demotion Failures: The automated process where Microsoft Office parses metadata properties inside files (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) and maps them to SharePoint columns (and vice-versa) gets stuck or is blocked by local file locks.
4. Invalid Term Store Mapping: The Managed Metadata Service (MMS) terms mapped to a local file are out of sync or have been deprecated/changed in the SharePoint admin center.

Initial Checklist

Before proceeding to advanced fixes, perform these basic checks:

1. Check Web Access: Open the library in your web browser and verify if the columns display the metadata correctly.
2. Verify Required Fields: Ensure the document has all mandatory fields populated via the SharePoint browser interface.
3. Confirm Office Application State: Verify that Microsoft Office is signed in with the same tenant account that has access to the SharePoint site.

Platform-Specific Resolving Steps

Step 1: Clear the Office Document Cache (ODC)

Microsoft Office maintains a separate cache that can conflict with OneDrive sync.

1. Close all Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
2. Open the Command Prompt as an administrator and terminate the Office Document Cache process.
3. Delete the cache files located in the AppData directory.

:: Stop the Office Document Cache handler
taskkill /f /im MSOSYNC.EXE /im CSISYNCCLIENT.EXE

:: Remove the Office Cache folders
rmdir /s /q "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\OfficeFileCache"
rmdir /s /q "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\15.0\OfficeFileCache"

Step 2: Force Re-index of Local OneDrive Metadata

Reset the OneDrive client configurations to force it to re-parse all local metadata.

:: Force quit OneDrive
taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe

:: Reset the OneDrive Sync Client
"%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe" /reset

Note: If OneDrive does not restart automatically after a few minutes, run:

start "" "%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\OneDrive.exe"

Step 1: Force Close OneDrive and Office Processes

Kill any running sync daemons and Office cache managers via Terminal:

# Terminate OneDrive sync client and helper tools
killall OneDrive
killall "Microsoft Word" "Microsoft Excel" "Microsoft PowerPoint" 2>/dev/null

Step 2: Remove Local Office Cache and Container Data

Office metadata caches are kept inside container directories. Removing them forces Office to retrieve fresh schemas from SharePoint.

# Clear Microsoft Office cache containers
rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.SharePoint-mac
rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Caches
rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Caches
rm -rf ~/Library/Group\ Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/msoclipboard

Step 3: Run the OneDrive Reset Script

macOS OneDrive installations contain a packaged reset utility.

# Execute the built-in standalone reset utility
/Applications/OneDrive.app/Contents/Resources/ResetOneDriveAppStandalone.command

Actionable Command Blocks

# Check for local files with temporary MS Office metadata lock states
Get-ChildItem -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\OneDrive - CloudProjectSoftware" -Recurse -File | 
Where-Object { $_.Name -like "~$*" } | 
Select-Object Name, FullName

# Remove cached OneDrive client databases and logs
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/OneDrive/settings
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac

Summary Checklist

• Checked SharePoint Online library in the web browser for missing required columns.
• Closed all Office apps and terminated MSOSYNC.EXE (Windows) or killed OneDrive (macOS).
• Deleted local Office Document Cache directories.
• Executed OneDrive /reset command to rebuild local file sync databases.
• Verified that Managed Metadata term stores have not been renamed or deleted.