SharePoint Slow Uploads

This article provides a diagnostic checklist and troubleshooting guide to resolve SharePoint Slow Uploads (such as upload speeds stalling, OneDrive syncing taking hours for small files, or network throttling blocking uploads).

Root Causes / Meaning

Slow uploads in SharePoint and OneDrive are typically caused by:

1. Bandwidth Throttling: The OneDrive sync client settings are configured to limit upload speed, or your network administrator enforces Quality of Service (QoS) throttling.
2. Office Collaboration (File Lock) Integration: The OneDrive client syncs Office documents via the Office Integration API, which performs metadata checks and page-by-page validations rather than raw block-level uploads.
3. Huge Document Library Scope: Syncing a single library with more than 100,000 files causes database locking and extreme metadata comparison overhead.
4. Office Document Cache (ODC) Bloat: Corrupted and oversized cached data blocks inside the ODC delay write actions.
5. Local Anti-Virus Interference: Real-time scanning tools inspect files during lock-write operations by OneDrive, compounding upload delays.

Initial Checklist

Before proceeding to advanced fixes, perform these basic checks:

1. Run a Speed Test: Verify that your internet connection’s upload speed is not the primary bottleneck.
2. Close Unused Browser Tabs: Active SharePoint web edits can hold locks on files, slowing down client sync.
3. Verify File Sizes: Confirm if the slow upload is isolated to large files (e.g., video files) or affects all files.

Platform-Specific Resolving Steps

Step 1: Disable OneDrive Bandwidth Limits

1. Right-click the OneDrive cloud icon in the taskbar and select Settings (gear icon) > Settings.
2. Go to the Sync and backup tab and select Advanced settings.
3. Under Limit download rate and Limit upload rate, set them to Don’t limit.

Step 2: Disable Office Integration Syncing

If Word/Excel files upload slowly, disabling the Office Collaboration feature allows OneDrive to handle files as standard binaries:

1. Open OneDrive settings.
2. Under the Sync and backup tab, expand Advanced settings.
3. Toggle off File collaboration (or “Use Office applications to sync Office files that I open”).

Step 3: Command-Line Tweak for Network Adapter Autotuning

Optimize Windows network socket performance for cloud uploads:

:: Enable Window Auto-Tuning for TCP connections (requires Administrator privileges)
netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal

Step 1: Force Disable Upload Throttling in OneDrive Plist

You can enforce unthrottled performance directly via defaults in the terminal:

# Configure OneDrive macOS preferences to eliminate speed caps
defaults write com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac UploadBandwidthLimit -int 0
defaults write com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac DownloadBandwidthLimit -int 0

# Apply changes by restarting the OneDrive client
killall OneDrive
open -a OneDrive

Step 2: Clear Office Cached Upload Tokens

# Terminate Microsoft Upload Center equivalent daemons
killall MSOSYNC 2>/dev/null

# Clean cached temp data where uploads are buffered
rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.SharePoint-mac/Data/Library/Caches/*

Actionable Command Blocks

# Measure round-trip time and packet size handling for SharePoint
$TenantUrl = "https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com"
Test-NetConnection -ComputerName "yourtenant.sharepoint.com" -Port 443

# Measure latency and response time to the tenant front door
curl -o /dev/null -w "Connect Time: %{time_connect}s\nTotal Time: %{time_total}s\n" \
-I "https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com"

Summary Checklist

• Ensured that OneDrive client bandwidth settings are set to Don’t limit.
• Disabled File Collaboration (Office Integration) in OneDrive’s advanced settings.
• Cleared the Office Document Cache (ODC) of temporary database files.
• Verified that the site or library is within the recommended 100,000 file limit.
• Whitelisted SharePoint and OneDrive network traffic in local firewalls and anti-virus software.