Inserting a file from OneDrive into OneNote Prompts me to Upload the file to OneDrive

Dear and respected,

Good day!

Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are glad to assist. We are looking into your situation, and we will update the thread shortly.

Appreciate your patience and understanding and thank for your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,

Mia

Dear respected,

We went through your post carefully and do understand your concern. But we are sorry to convey that this behavior is by design. When you insert a file from OneDrive into OneNote, it may prompt you to upload the file to OneDrive and insert a link to it instead of just inserting a link to the existing file. This is because OneNote needs to ensure that the file is accessible to anyone who has access to the OneNote notebook, even if they do not have access to the original file on OneDrive.

And from my tests, the uploaded copy will be added into a new folder called OneNote Uploads in your OneDrive.

For such a feature limitation, kindly submit your voice via the feedback channel so the related product development team can hear your voice and improve a better user experience. How do I give feedback on Microsoft 365? - Microsoft Support

I appreciate your time and effort on checking these above and thank you for your patience and cooperation. I hope that you are keeping safe and well!

Sincerely,

Mia | Microsoft Community Moderator

Mia,

learned something new, thank you 😊

Bernd

Mia,

Thank you for looking into it.

That fact that it is intended behavior is puzzling as the one of the main benefits of Onedrive/Sharepoint is to have a single copy of a file vs. having multiple copies in multiple locations. So if a team has a file they have been collaborating on in OneDrive (Sharepoint) and they want the file in a notebook, adding from Onedrive willl for there to now be a copy of the original file in a new location.

I guess the solution is to not use OneNote to add the link for an existing document and instead copy the link from OneDrive or Sharepoint.

You have created the confusion yourself because you wanted to insert the file (always creating a copy) instead of insert a link 😋

Bernd

Its not really confusing, The wording in the Insert File dialog box is very clear it is inserting a link, Using the insert link command a more manual process.

In the long run, copying the link from OneDrive or Sharepoint and pasting it works easier, you just have the extra step to change the display text to not be the path, filename, and other modifiers.

I really do not think it is asking much for the software to recognize the file is in sharepoint/onedrive and to not upload it to separate folder and then create the link but just create a link.

No, the dialog box doesn't say insert link, it says upload to OneDrive (a copy) and insert link.

And Mia told you that the link is problematic related to access rights.

It's not that easy.

Bernd