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I am working with SharePoint online and users are using IE browser to leverage open with explorer view for file upload. Now some libraries across sites with same names and users have used open with explorer to work with these libraries in explorer view but they are now wiling to rename these libraries since they are not able to figure out which one is which.

Now one issue I am noticing here based on my dev environment testing is, I created a new library with name "Test Upload" and post creation I renamed it as "Test Dev Upload". After the name change I did open with explorer but it does not show me the updated name on network (with explorer view). It shows the name of the library when created "Test Upload". I noticed the same behavior with OneDrive as well.File sync works fine but the name change does not.

Has anyone come across this scenario and had luck? Please let me know.

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There are two properties for a SharePoint list (or library) that SharePoint tracks. One is the title and other is a static name (internal). When you first create a SharePoint list the list title is same as the static name (which is used to create the root folder that you see in explorer view). SharePoint uses the root folder name as part of the url. After creation, the subsequent updates to SharePoint title only updates the title and not its internal name (which is the root folder name). That is the reason any updates you make to the title do not show up in explorer view as it would break other stuff in SharePoint.

You could technically rename the folder name using explorer view, but as the folder name is used to construct the url, you may be breaking any links or user bookmarks while doing so.

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  • The second point you mentioned about link breaking, I am going to test that out,I might have overlooked that. So I guess the solution would be to save this library as template first with content, create a new library with this template and then have this new library opened with explorer. What say? – mdevm Sep 19 '18 at 13:16
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Yes, it pretty tricky one..

So you have renamed the library using library settings -> List name, this will change the title if library not the property bag.

so what you need to do, first rename the library name via library settings then open that library via file explorer and 1 step backward and rename that library name there too..

once changed in windows explorer view then you can't access the library with old url, again redirect to site content and open that library and this time try with open with explorer.. this time you can see the URL updated..

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  • This is not a solution, I tried this already. This is not about one user, its about 100+ users, it can't be done individually on each user's machine. There has to be a way to fix this dynamically. – mdevm Sep 18 '18 at 15:41
  • Whatever you perform at server level, it will reflect to all users.. i am sure its not a user specific issue, i came across this issue in my past. – THIVAGAR SEGAR Sep 18 '18 at 15:57
  • I am working with SP Online not On prem. – mdevm Sep 18 '18 at 15:58
  • its applicable for both on-prem and online and i resolved that issue in SharePoint online only not on-prem...... alaindeklerk.com/… sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/111524/… – THIVAGAR SEGAR Sep 18 '18 at 16:07
  • Again I guess this is not relevant to SharePoint library title change but this solution points to URL change which is not needed in my case. Simple case is when i rename the library name in SharePoint then it should sync on OneDrive as well as Network (opened with explorer) with the updated name, I have already done this and its not working. It is but obvious that I can change the library name on the explorer view which is what I am not looking to do user vise. it should be done dynamically when the name change occurs in SharePoint, thanks. – mdevm Sep 18 '18 at 16:16

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