Matlab is automatically downloading files from onedrive and I cannot stop it

I get a Onedrive Windows popup "Matlab.exe is downloading from OneDrive... Learn more in Settings > Automatic file downloads"

Matlab is triggering downloading my entire onedrive (gigabytes of data) which is normally stored offline.

I click "Cancel download" and get the option to "Block Matlab". Unfortunately the download continues seconds or minutes later.

I go to Automatic file downloads in Windows settings and it records the fact that Matlab has been blocked (although doesn't mention Matlab specifically) because it allows me to click Unblock, however Matlab still continues downloading.

Anyone experienced this?

Anyway I can stop Matlab triggering downloading my onedrive??

[Philip Heger]

Same problem here. Laptop works fine but my other PC does exactly the same thing.

[George Mylonas]

Same problem here

[Mihir Pise]

Same problem

[Lorenco Santos Vasconcelos]

Same problema. Tried to run MATLAB as administrador as @Victor R said, but no success. When I double click one folder in MATLAB's navigation it starts downloading files in onedrive. I'm running R2020a.

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

OneDrive is normally the master location for your files. That means that the file normally lives in the cloud only, not locally, unless you specifically said to always keep a local copy. You can specify that the file will always be available on your local drive by right-clicking on the folder or files (in File Explorer) and selecting "Always keep on this device". That way you'll always have a local copy and a copy in the cloud and will not have to wait for it to download.

So what happens is if some program, and it doesn't matter if it's MATLAB or some other program (I don't think OneDrive or the operating system cares), requests a file (like you want to open it in the MATLAB Editor), then the OS/OneDrive first checks if the file is a local file. If so, it uses that copy. If the file is not there, so it's living only in the cloud, then OneDrive will download a copy from the cloud to your local drive. That is what I think is happening with your situation. Of course this can sometimes take a long time depending on network traffic, bandwidth, the size of the file, and the number of files it needs to bring down.

Now when you've made your changes to the file, at some point soon (like when you save it), it will copy your modified local file up to the cloud so the two are always in sync. You can check the status of the OneDrive syncing by opening the OneDrive icon in the task tray (set of icons in the lower right screen corner). From there you can also temporarily pause syncing for some amount of time if syncing is using up too much computer resources.

What I do for important files (all my MATLAB source code folders) and some other files (large images) that I use regularly is to have the computer keep a local copy of them. That way I'm never delayed when I try to use the file because it has to download it from the cloud. I get it instantly from the local copy on my solid state drive.

I hope that explains it (Click the Vote icon if it helped you).

[Lorenco Santos Vasconcelos]

Hi @Image Analyst!

Yes, I understand that this must be the normal behavior: when I double click a only cloud file to open it in Editor, OneDrive will download. This is OK

The case is that when I'm navigating through folders in MATLAB's left panel and I double click a folder to make it the working directory, OneDrive starts downloading all of that folder's content, even if I didn't click any file. Just entering in the folder and making it the working directory.

As a workaround, I navigate in MATLAB's panel only expanding the folders (+ button), so OneDrive will not start any download. Once I get to the last folder, I double click on it.

Is there a way of MATLAB do not request access to the files of a folder when I make this folder the working directory? I think MATLAB should request the file only if I double clicked it to open with Editor...

Thank you very much

Answer 2

[Victor R]

I'm facing the same issue with versions 2021a and 2021b. In previous versions I solved this issue by executing MATLAB as administrator, but now I have realized that when MATLAB runs as admin, it can not find the files in network devices when using the letter assigned/mapped to them.

Any idea?