Disabling Syncing of SharePoint Libraries with OneDrive for Business

I was a little surprised to not find a simple overview of how one would disable Syncing (at the library or site level) of files between SharePoint and OneDrive for Business.  Particularly right now while there is a gap between what SharePoint can do and what the OneDrive for Business Next Generation client can do (background: the new OneDrive for Business “Next Generation” client only syncs OneDrive for Business libraries. This functionality is in Preview and working but it doesn’t go live until December 2016).

Outside of the above stated “gap” while the OneDrive for Business team puts the finishing touches on their client and distributes it, sometimes we just don’t want a library to be synced offline anyways.  Perhaps we don’t want files offline for security reasons or we want to avoid “Last Writer Wins” scenarios where two folks edit offline at the same time and one of the synced items thus ends up as part of version history.

Enough of the background, just give me the goods!

What do you mean by syncing?

I’m referring to clicking this button in your SharePoint libraries (note, I used a screenshot of the newer Library experience so this post doesn’t look really dated so quickly … but trust that this applies to any library with a Sync button).

How to turn it off for just a library

If you just want to control this setting at the library itself, simply go into Advanced Settings and choose “No” for “Offline Client Availability”

How to turn it off for the entire site

If you want to disable it across your site, the setting isn’t in the most obvious of places (under the heading of “Search”).

Go to Site Settings, and look for “Search and Offline Availability”. In there you will find the option again to choose “No” to Offline Client Availability.