In my Microsoft 365 Tenant I now can use the function "Add shortcut to my files" in OneDrive. Microsoft also calls it "Add to OneDrive". Add shortcut to My files. And if you leave out "shortcut" and replace "My Files" with OneDrive, it hits the nail on the head.

First the links to several blog posts of mine, which deals with the problem of including "Documents shared with me". You should read it before, because then the difference in this article will be easier. This also in the background, because this functionality is not yet available at the beginning of October 2020. After consultation with the product group it is only 5% worldwide

Synchronize links to articles "Files shared with me":

OneDrive | Sync Shared with me files

These are still valid, because cross-tenant synchronization in the new way is not (yet) supported. They were on the table at the beginning of the new synchronization, but were discarded at first.

So this means:

Origin	Implementation
from external	exclusively by synchronizing a folder via Synch Shared with me files
from internal	the user has the choice: via synchronizing a folder (see from external) via the function "Link to My Files

User A (Sender here Hans.Brender)

A user from my organization (user A) wants to share a folder (Folder A2) with others. He does this as usual. He shares the folder with one or more employees. To use the function "Add shortcut to my files", it must be a folder. Just one single file is not enough. What you put into the folder (more folders, one or more files) does not matter.

Now let’s look at User B (recipient Julian.attempt)

User B calls up the web interface of his OneDrive and switches to the "Shared" area and then "Shared with me". The folder is selected

Then there are two ways to execute the function "Add shortcut to My files”

1. from the horizontal menu
2. press the new icon, directly in the selected folder

 

depending on the number of files it takes a few seconds, then there are

3. success or error message
4. since the folder is still selected, the unlinking is also displayed.

and if we then click on My files, the following picture results…

5. the folder now has its own icon
6. the owner is displayed

and when we switch to the Windows File Explorer…

 
you can see that the folder of user A (Hans.Brender) is also shown in the OneDrive folder of user B (Julian.Versuch). With the right mouse button you can also remove the folder (remove the shortcut from "My Files", but this only works with OneDrive version 20.174.0830.0002 or higher)

 

Note:

When removing, the folders and files are also removed from synchronization and the user should name several devices, on all devices. This is the main difference to the old synchronization. There you have to stop synchronization via OneDrive Sync Client (Account Properties – Stop synchronization). Then select the folder in the Windows File Explorer and delete "manually". Make sure that the synchronization has been stopped, recognizable by the missing sync status of the folders and files.

If the sender removes the rights, the folder remains, but the subfolders and files are removed

 

and now to another scenario:

Here, user A, who also has access to the document library C, shares a folder (Folder D3) including subfolders and files with user B.

The procedure is absolutely identical. In the Windows File Explorer of user B (Julian Versuch) it looks like this:

 

everything good?

Yes and no. On my blog, many visitors search for "show files shared with me in Explorer". Everything described above could be done already.

1. these are all files ‘shared with me’ that I have synched
2. these are SharePoint libraries that I have synchronized locally

	These are the libraries in the sync client view, but here are a few more, including the external ones, but listed separately above. And now to the possible errors that can occur. Because, as you can see in the picture above, if a folder is shared by the user, where folders below it have already been synchronized, an error will occur.
	This is because double synchronization is not supported. Would take up space and makes no sense for other reasons. Microsoft is still working on the error message.

Summary

Adding folders and the files they contain is only one click away. However, this must be done in the OneDrive web interface. Adding and removing is done on all devices and can also be done from the File Explorer. The "old" synchronization of folders shared with me and the files they contain must also be done in the OneDrive web interface, but is limited to that device. Removal must be done from the OneDrive Sync Client interface, involves several steps including manual deletion, and must be done separately for multiple devices.

This results in different scenarios.

Here my +- list:

++ works (synced) with several devices at the same time.
++ easy add and undo (and delete local content).
-    only for internal users of the organization. 
++ remove synced works in Windows File Explorer only from 20.174.0830.0002
+   Folder name can be changed, effect only on the receiver, not on the sender
-    Insufficient display in Windows Explorer (only the folder name is shown), this is a bit irritating because you don’t know where the file comes from. But you have to jump to the web interface of OneDrive.