Is OneDrive for Linux Mature Enough Yet?
I'm looking to see if anyone can speak to how life is (good, bad, or meh) with using one of the popular OneDrive clients on a common enough Linux distribution.
Ok, so allow me to set the context...
- My partner uses Windows laptop, and with next year's end of life on Win10, I need to make decision to advise them on whether we get them another Windows laptop (presumably running Win11), or finally get them to take the plunge on using Linux - (a laptop running some common enough linux distro).
- I run linux as my personal daily driver on my laptop for more than a decade, and on server side having been using and dabbling with linux since about 2004. So, i will add also that i'm all bought in on the linux, libre/free and open source lifestyle.
- I'm not a fan of Windows, but not judging that others like my partner use it. By the way, my partner doesn't care about tech nor computing, they simply use applications and move on with their life. (Yes, i have politely nudged them over the years to try linux, but they have been hesitant to do so without a true need, so why rock the love boat, right?)
- My partner's computing needs are quite basic, but slightly tricky...Here is what i mean:
- They use a web browser or mobile apps for the vast majority of their compouting/app needs
- For office suite, they use desktop versions of MS Word and Excel
- Quite importanrtly, they use OneDrive to sync their files (and there are alot important files for them and our family)
So, from a computing needs perspective, that's pretty much it. For every other function and need (e.g. email, productivity, etc.), they simply use browser or mobile apps as noted above.
You might be thinking, well, move them to linux, and if they like Microsoft, then use the Word or Excel browser app, right? Well, they LOATH having to use the browser or mobile versions of Microsoft Office. Being of a certain age, they might be ok with LibreOffice, since it mimics close enough to desktop versions of Word, Excel desktop apps...So, I think the desktop and office suite are less of a problem to find an alternative if needed...
But, OneDrive, yeah, this is the one app that they won't let go. Not because they love Microsoft (they could careless about the company), but because they have a good trust and experience of its functions to date on Windows. Onedrive has really empowered their workflow. That is, because they jump from browser to mobile app often through their day, etc....the feature of having a file easily and reliably sync (via onedrive) between devices is probably the most important need that they have.
Now, before anyone says, well try "NextCloud"...yeah, been there and done that. Nextcloud works wonderfully for me (has for years)...but it does not conform exactly to my partner's workflow. I've tried Collabera, but could never get it to work reliably enough. I want to state again, i am a strong, emphatic open source advocate...But if my partner can't get their work done without me constantly diagnosing and fixing things....then its not proper solution for them.
So, while i have a solid linux or open source option for all of their other needs, Onedrive is the challenge here. So, can anyone advise, how things are with onedrive clients on linux? Any particular client that is worth me looking into? What about a specific linux distro that, maybe possibly works best with a particular onedrive linux client? I should add that my partner is willing to pay for file synching and does NOT want to have me self-host things for this single function since they don't want to have me kill myself in supporting it. So, if there is a valid alternative to onedrive that is awesome on linux, and that they can pay a company to reliably host, that is welcome as well.
Or, should i simply advise them to stick to Windows through EOL, get them set on Win11 along with native Onedrive, and move on with our lives?
I'm thankful for anyone's recommendations and advice. Cheers!
In your situation the quick answer is no
There is no client and whilst you can 'make do' and I'm guessing you would be happy to, equally your partner will want it to 'just work'.
Bite the bullet, invest in Win11 and you will both be happier.
Signed by a longtime Linux user who has been down that path with his partner.
As others said, no, there isn't a OneDrive client. Certainly none that will make your partner happy.
Also, if they use these documents in collaboration with other people, Libreoffice still isn't a full alternative. They will run into markup issues with word documents, excel weirdness, etc. Given they seem to be attached to their current workflow, I can't imagine them liking to have to switch away from MS Office entirely.
For the record, and clarity on the decision, the web office products and the desktop office products are NOT 1 to 1 on features and it's not just a "well obviously the younger techy people use the web version"
There are fairly standard features/uses that the web client cannot do and require downloading and using the main application. I've found this to a MAJOR hurdle for any serious professional office user who's actually using some of the more advanced features.
I know libre office does "Some of it" but the few times I've tried jumping over the years I've run into the kind of dead end that would not be acceptable.
I've skimmed this and I'll answer the one big question: Is OneDrive Linux Client mature enough?
What client? There isn't a native one as far as I'm aware.
Can it be done? Yes. I used a paid for app called InSync for my OneDrive and SharePoint sync and it's pretty good, but the flaw is that it downloads the files in full (offline mode) and cannot do ghost syncing (list the files and pull when requested).
If you can live with that, InSync is great. If you can live with "mapping" then you can use rclone and it'll act as a file system mount.
I was also unaware there was an official Linux client. If there is, I wish it was available when I was in uni and lived in OneNote (which I had to run in a VM since I used my university OneDrive to sync it between devices automatically but OneDrive doesn't work under Wine, a known issue).
Edit: In the thread I linked, it seems someone has found a workaround using onedriver. I'm not sure if it would work with OneNote, but at least for syncing files, it should suffice.
No, but you can use rclone and it will be a thousand fold better than anything produced by Microsoft for Linux for this case.
I use rclone to mount my nextcloud as a remote file system. Can't abide systems that just yoink all the remote files down into a local file system.
You can use the VFS capabilities, which is what I mostly use. Creates a virtual file system, when you go to 'open' the file, it will autodownload, has a cache flag as well.
This is the most recent command I had saved in my access:
Edit: May have misread your comment, if so, my bad! I hope this helps whoever out there to get it started. Super useful.
Edit 2: this script uses fusermount to force mount to a directory in your ~home folder, if one exists, it will close and reopen, this is great when you set it as a startup script in the background.
Not at my computer right now for exact details but I used a unit file to mount my Nextcloud just using 'rclone mount' and rclone's config file.
Isn't it wonderful we have so many ways of bending our OS and tools to fit the way we want to work.
Good to know it can work with OneDrive too.
Edit: you have 'rclone mount' as well. Didn't see that the first time I read your script lol
Not that its directly inr reply to you but I believe with rclone you can also use vfs with
serveand spin up a SFTP or WEBDAV server, but I could be wrong. I typically use the WEBDAV command to view my S3-like buckets since it's so much easier and better than any other resource.Rclone is seriously great!
If your partner hates the web office products, I cannot imagine them adapting well to open-source alternatives like LibreOffice, which are a far more jarring transition ime. That in addition to the lack of OneDrive support means that it's probably not a great idea to switch them to Linux.
github.com/abraunegg/onedrive is the only free client that exists. It works pretty good but doesn't do local storage.
As menioned rsync can do it as well with the same issue.
You mentioned not wanting to self-host, but I'll poke that bear a bit...
Have you considered syncthing? You don't even have to self-host in the traditional sense, just be on the same network as the device you want to sync with syncthing running on both.
We use this to sync our laptops before we go anywhere, then when we come back home, start our laptops again to sync back to our desktops. It runs very fast over our wireless network too.
There are apps for it to run in the background on Windows, OSX, and Linux.
I am not a Linux expert, but my understanding is that GNOME added OneDrive support earlier this year, and therefore the latest versions of distros like Ubuntu and Linux Mint now support OneDrive out of the box. Or this at least is what GNOME 46's release notes write:
That said, my understanding is that it doesn't save or sync files offline, so you need to be online to access your files. And I must also stress that I don't actually use a desktop Linux regularly and haven't tried this, so I would also be interested to hear from anyone who knows more about this.
I have actually been planning to switch to Linux Mint myself, and one reason I think I could finally do it now is the promise of OneDrive support, if it indeed exists and is reliable. But I just haven't had the time to test it myself. Hence, any first hand information would be very valuable to me as well.