So you have a large amount of sharepoint data which is synced to your machine however it’s eating up the space on the Mac what do you do?
You have tried making it online by right clicking the folder and mark free up space however this has not worked (it sometimes just hangs or gives the Error 14 code) and the drive is nearly full. What are the options ?
You have a large amount of SharePoint data synced to your Mac, but it’s consuming almost all your disk space.
You’ve already tried making the folders “online-only” by right-clicking and selecting Free up space, but this either hangs or fails with Error 14. Meanwhile, your drive is running out of storage.
What options do you have to resolve this issue?
The most reliable solution is to stop syncing the SharePoint folder. To do this, open the OneDrive app, go to Preferences → Accounts, and unlink the SharePoint folder that’s causing the issue. This should help free up space.
Keep in mind that even after a reboot, the SharePoint folder and its contents may still remain on your machine. Microsoft recommends manually deleting the folder at that point. However, proceed with caution—make sure you have a full backup of the files first. If SharePoint (OneDrive) interprets the deletion as a cloud action, it could remove the data from the server as well, which would sync across all connected sites. While the recycle bin provides a 30-day restore window, restoring from it isn’t always straightforward.
To prevent accidental deletions from syncing to the cloud, unlinking the OneDrive account entirely may be the safest approach. After unlinking, restart your Mac, delete the unwanted folders (including items in the trash), and restart again for good measure. Only once you’re certain everything is clean should you consider re-linking your OneDrive and SharePoint accounts.
The only real option is to stop syncing the sharepoint folder. From within Onedirve app go to preferences then accounts and unlink the sharepoint folder that is causing the issue. This should now free up some space. The funny thing is even with a reboot the sharepoint folder with all its data is still on the machine. According to Microsoft you now select the folder and delete it. I would side on caution if you do this. In short make sure you have a coy of the files just incase Sharepoint (OneDrive) does not see this as an option to delete the entire folder and data from its cloud server. Remember if this does happen it will mirror across all sharepoint sites that the system has signed in and the recycle bin gives you only 30 days to restore. If you have ever tried to resort from the recycle bin this is not always a clear case of select the folder and click restore.
Unlinking the onedrive account may be the best action to stop any sync going on with Shareporint cloud servers and thus removing the accidental sync removal of the files from sharepoint. Once unlinked, a reboot would not hurt then delete the folders in question including the ones in the bin, another reboot might be good proactive before you decide to re link the onedrive and sharepoint account to your Mac.
Here is the sequence to stop the sync and remote the data from the machine (according to Microsoft and its Copilot AI)
- 1. Stop Syncing from the OneDrive Menu:
- Click the OneDrive cloud icon in your Mac’s menu bar.
- Click the Help & Settings icon (a gear) and select Preferences.
- Go to the Account tab.
- Find the folder you want to unsync under your “Synced folders” and click Stop Sync next to it.
- Confirm your choice to stop the sync.
- 2. Delete the Local Folder:
- Open Finder.
- Navigate to the folder that was previously synced.
- Right-click: on the folder.
- Select Move to Trash.
- Empty your Trash to permanently remove the files.
What happens next
- The OneDrive sync client will no longer synchronize any changes to or from this folder.
- The files will be removed from your Mac’s hard drive.
- The folder and its contents will remain in SharePoint Online, accessible through your web browser.