A comprehensive guide to setting up OneDrive synchronization on Ubuntu using abraunegg's onedrive tool, with special focus on managing multiple accounts.
I recently made the full switch to Ubuntu—no dual-boot, no fallback to Windows, just Ubuntu all the way. It has been a great journey so far, but it comes with its own set of challenges. I love the control and freedom Linux offers, but I quickly hit a snag when it came to integrating my day-to-day tools from work. One of the biggest hurdles? File management via OneDrive. At work, Office 365 is central to collaboration and documentation, and OneDrive is the glue that holds my file management together. Ubuntu, for all its power, doesn’t get much love from Microsoft, and I found myself missing that seamless file sync I once took for granted. That’s when I started hunting for solutions and stumbled upon a gem: onedrive by abraunegg.
It’s a robust and actively maintained command-line tool for syncing OneDrive with Linux. I’ve been using it for a few months now with both my work and personal accounts, and after a bit of trial and error, I’ve fine-tuned the experience for smooth, reliable syncing. Here’s how you can do the same.
onedrive from source following GitHub instructions onedrive --sync (for a single account)mkdir -p ~/.config/onedrive-personal ~/.config/onedrive-work
mkdir -p ~/onedrive-personal ~/onedrive-work
onedrive --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-personal" --sync sync_list file to include/exclude specific folders--monitor mode and --resync (can create conflict files)For detailed setup instructions and troubleshooting tips, read on!
onedrive The first step is installing the tool. Depending on your Ubuntu version, you can either use a prebuilt package or compile it from source.
For the latest features and better reliability, I recommend compiling from source following the instructions on the GitHub page.
Some Ubuntu systems may encounter issues with HTTPS due to outdated libcurl versions. To avoid this, it’s recommended to install the latest curl from source:
sudo apt remove curl
sudo apt install -y libssl-dev
cd /tmp
curl -O https://curl.se/download/curl-8.7.1.tar.gz
tar -xvzf curl-8.7.1.tar.gz
cd curl-8.7.1
./configure --with-ssl
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install
You can verify the version:
curl --version
Make sure /usr/local/bin is in your PATH so that the newly installed version is used.
Once installed, you can authorize your OneDrive account and start syncing with a simple command:
onedrive --sync
To manage multiple OneDrive accounts (e.g., work and personal), you need to dive a bit deeper into the configuration. The beauty of onedrive is its flexibility, allowing you to create separate configuration directories and thus, allowing you to sync files from multiple accounts seamlessly. Here’s how you can set it up, step by step:
mkdir -p ~/.config/onedrive-personal
mkdir -p ~/.config/onedrive-work
mkdir -p ~/onedrive-personal
mkdir -p ~/onedrive-work
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/abraunegg/onedrive/master/config -O ~/.config/onedrive-personal/config
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/abraunegg/onedrive/master/config -O ~/.config/onedrive-work/config
# For personal account
nano ~/.config/onedrive-personal/config
# add "~/onedrive-personal" to the sync_dir line
# For work account
nano ~/.config/onedrive-work/config
# add "~/onedrive-work" to the sync_dir line
Check the configuration for each account to ensure everything is set up correctly (most importantly, the sync_dir):
onedrive --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-personal" --display-config
onedrive --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-work" --display-config
If everything looks good, you can proceed to the next step.
onedrive --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-personal"
onedrive --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-work"
This will prompt you to authenticate via a URL. Follow the link and paste the response back in the terminal.
onedrive --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-personal" --sync
onedrive --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-work" --sync
This will start the synchronization process for each account. Depending on the number and size of files, this may take some time.
Once the sync is complete, you would like to monitor the sync process. You can do this by running:
onedrive --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-personal" --monitor
onedrive --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-work" --monitor
Or, you can automate the sync process using systemd services.
systemd While it might be tempting to automate the sync process using systemd services, I’d urge you to think twice—especially if you’re working across multiple machines.
I learned this the hard way: I had set up onedrive to auto-sync on more than one of my computers, and it led to a nightmare of conflicts. Thousands of .safebackup files were suddenly being created, cluttering both my local folders and cloud storage. What was meant to save time actually caused hours of cleanup.
Automating sync is absolutely fine if you’re sticking to a single machine. But once you introduce multiple systems connecting to the same OneDrive account, the risk of conflicts rises significantly. If you’re in that boat (like I am), manual syncing might just save you a headache.
To automate the sync process, you can create systemd services for each account. This way, you can have them run in the background and monitor changes automatically. To create a systemd service for each account, follow these steps:
For the personal account:
cat <<EOF > ~/.config/systemd/user/onedrive-personal.service
[Unit]
Description=OneDrive Personal Sync
After=network.target
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/onedrive --monitor --confdir=/home/$(whoami)/.config/onedrive-personal
Restart=on-failure
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF
For the work account:
cat <<EOF > ~/.config/systemd/user/onedrive-work.service
[Unit]
Description=OneDrive Work Sync
After=network.target
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/onedrive --monitor --confdir=/home/$(whoami)/.config/onedrive-work
Restart=on-failure
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF
Replace /usr/local/bin/onedrive with the actual path to your onedrive binary if it’s different.
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable onedrive-personal.service --now
systemctl --user enable onedrive-work.service --now
This will start the sync services for both accounts and ensure they run automatically on boot.
You can check the status of the services with:
systemctl --user status onedrive-personal.service
systemctl --user status onedrive-work.service
Congratulations! You now have a fully functional OneDrive setup on Ubuntu, capable of syncing files from multiple accounts seamlessly.
OneDrive can hold thousands of files, but not everything needs to be synced. When working with massive datasets or legacy documents, selectively syncing only the essentials can make a world of difference.
Use a sync_list file to define what should be synced:
# for your personal account
nano ~/.config/onedrive-personal/sync_list
This is how my sync_list looks:
# Exclude all .git directories
!.git/
# Exclude all renv directories
!renv/
# Other directories that I do not bother syncing
!/Public
!/Apps
!/'Email attachments'
!/Desktop
# Specific directory with heavy files
!/2_areas/nematode-genomics/oncho_gis/
!ncbi_dataset/
# Important! Include desired directories
/1_projects
/2_areas
/3_resources
The sync_list uses an exclusion-first approach. This means only the items listed in sync_list will be synced, and everything else is ignored.
Always test your sync_list with a dry run first to avoid accidental data loss. So, you will have to resync with --dry-run:
onedrive --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-personal" --sync --dry-run
--monitor mode with cautionWhen you are manually syncing files, there are a few things to keep in mind while using the --monitor mode.
--monitor running indefinitely.onedrive --monitor --verbose --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-personal"
--verbose mode to see all the logs.Important: Monitor mode sometimes misses changes—especially deletions or files created online. In one case, files I deleted in the cloud were re-uploaded from my local machine because the deletion wasn’t properly detected.
--resync caveatIf syncing gets messy, you might consider running a full --resync or you will be prompted to do so. This is a powerful command that forces the client to re-evaluate everything in your OneDrive folder.
onedrive --resync --confdir="~/.config/onedrive-personal" --verbose
Be aware, this can result in thousands of .safebackup files being created if conflicts are detected. These backup files will be uploaded to the cloud, potentially doubling or tripling your storage usage.
Tip: Always back up your local OneDrive folder before using
--resync. Watch the logs closely for what’s happening.
.safebackup Files Being Createdonedrive detects mismatched timestamps or minor differences between local and cloud versions.--disable-upload-validation might reduce unnecessary safebackups, but be cautious, as it tells the client to trust the local version more aggressively.Using OneDrive on Ubuntu isn’t as plug-and-play as on Windows, but with onedrive by abraunegg, it’s surprisingly powerful and customisable.
With careful configuration, a solid understanding of how the tool behaves, and some patience, you can sync your work and personal Microsoft 365 accounts on Ubuntu without a hitch.
It’s not perfect, and yes, you do have to get your hands a little dirty in the terminal, but the payoff is worth it. It’s fast, secure, and gives you complete control over your sync process.
Let me know in the comments if you have any tips or challenges of your own—we Linux users need to help each other out!
Happy syncing!⏳