Several users report the OneDrive placeholders aren’t there

Oct 18, 2017 10:59 GMT  ·  By

The new Windows 10 Fall Creators Update brings back OneDrive placeholders in the form of a feature called OneDrive Files On-Demand, but it appears that after the upgrade, only some users are getting it.

Basically, after upgrading to the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, users who head over to the OneDrive settings only get to configure general options and notifications, without a dedicated section for Files On-demand.

Microsoft itself has already acknowledged the bug and explained that users need to download and install the latest OneDrive client to be able to configure Files On-Demand. Why this OneDrive client is not part of the Fall Creators Update for everyone is still a mystery, and so is why only some users are experiencing this bug.

OneDrive Files On-Demand

OneDrive Files On-Demand is a modern version of the original placeholders that were introduced in Windows 8.1 and which were then removed with the release of Windows 10. This feature allows users to browse the content of their OneDrive accounts without having to download anything. Basically, each folder includes only “shortcuts” of the files stored in the cloud, and items are downloaded once the user attempts to open the file.

This obviously helps save bandwidth, but at the same time, it also makes browsing substantially faster because content is downloaded only when files are launched.

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is being rolled out in stages to systems across the world, as Microsoft wants to fix bugs before everyone gets it. At this point, only new devices are being updated, and this bug that makes OneDrive Files On-Demand unavailable to some is living proof that Microsoft needs more time to ensure flawless performance before the Fall Creators Update is being pushed to more users.

Of course, there’s always the option to manually download the new update, but this involved additional steps and taking more risks, as bugs like these could show up without any way to fix them just yet.