How to Resolve ‘Unable to Move Shortcut’ in OneDrive?

OneDrive has its protocol to manage shared folders between persons or organizations and usually, puts shortcuts of these folders in the root directory of OneDrive of the person with whom the folder is shared. Moving these folders between OneDrive directories can sometimes become tricky and lead to the error under discussion with the following message:

OneDrive Error Unable to Move Shortcut

Prior to getting on the solutions, here are a few causes that we can identify causing the prompt of Unable to Move Shortcut in OneDrive:

• Folder Shared by Another Person: Usually, a shared folder by a person is placed by OneDrive into its root directory (in the form of a shortcut) and if you try to move the shortcut to another location in OneDrive, it may cause the issue at hand.
• Sharing Removed by Another Person: If another person has unshared his shared folder from you but OneDrive fails to remove its shortcut from your files (due to permissions issue), then it may show the pop-up of unable to move shortcut.

Before moving on to solutions, check if restarting the PC (as the issue can be caused by a temporary OneDrive cache glitch) solves the issue.

Revert the Shortcut to its Location in the OneDrive Sync Client

OneDrive (like other Cloud Storages e.g., Google Drive) is not good in handling shortcuts due to the File Explorer limitations and the same can cause the error unable to move shortcut. Especially, if you have recently moved a shortcut (mainly, of a file/ folder shared by someone else to you) from (or to) the OneDrive’s root directory. In this case, reverting the shortcut to its default location may solve the problem.

1. Launch the OneDrive sync client and find out the problematic shortcut. The name of the shortcut is written in the error message (you can search for it in the File Explorer Search).

   

   Search for the Problematic Shortcut in the OneDrive Search

2. Now move back the shortcut to its original directory and check if the shortcut issue is cleared.

Stop the Sync of the Particular Folder and Delete the Shortcut

If moving back the folder to its original directory did not work (or not fulfills your requirements), then stopping the sync of the particular folder and deleting the shortcut may solve the problem.

1. Expand your system’s tray (near the clock) and click on the OneDrive icon.
2. Now click on Help and Settings and open Settings.

   

   Open OneDrive Settings

3. Then, in the Account tab, click the Choose Folders button (under the Choose Folders option) and uncheck the folder containing the shortcut.

   

   Open Choose Folder to Sync in the Account Tab of the OneDrive

4. Now apply your changes and open the OneDrive client.

   

   Uncheck the Problematic Shortcut Folder in Choose Folder of the OneDrive

5. Then delete the shortcut from the folder and check if the issue is resolved.

Use the OneDrive Web to Delete the Shortcut

If the problematic shortcut is not available in the OneDrive client or deleting it there did not work, then deleting the problematic shortcut from the OneDrive web may clear the unable to move shortcut problem.

1. Launch a web browser (it would be better to use a native Microsoft client like MS Edge) and steer to the OneDrive website.
2. Now log in using your Microsoft credentials (if required) and find the problematic shortcut (you can also use the Search Everything box).
3. Once found, select it and then click on Delete (or Remove).

   

   Remove the Problematic Folder from the OneDrive Web

4. Then, in the left pane, navigate to the Recycle Bin tab and select the deleted shortcut.
5. Now select Delete and then confirm to delete the shortcut.

   

   Delete the Problematic Folder from the Recycle Bin of the OneDrive Web

6. Afterward, reboot your PC and upon reboot, hopefully, the OneDrive error unable to move shortcut issue is resolved.

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