How to remove a synced Teams folder from Windows File Explorer

Are you having trouble removing a synced Teams folder from your Windows Explorer view? To help understand how this works, it is useful to remember that OneDrive for Business and Teams are both using SharePoint on the backend. The synchronization utilizes the OneDrive for Business app installed on your local computer. This means this works across all platforms to remove a synced folder from your view in Windows File Explorer.

Remove a synced Teams (or SharePoint) folder from Windows File Explorer:

*** WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT RIGHT-CLICK AND DELETE A SYNCED FOLDER FROM WINDOWS FILE EXPLORER! THIS WILL DELETE ALL OF THE FILES IN THE FOLDER ON YOUR COMPUTER AND FROM THE CLOUD. ***

1. To start, locate the folder you wish to remove from Windows File Explorer. Notice the folder Status has a cloud next to it. This signifies that it is being synced with your files in the cloud.
2. As we said, this is managed through OneDrive, so to remove it, we must open our OneDrive sync settings in the System Tray. Right-click on the OneDrive icon in the System Tray and the bottom right corner and click Settings. 
3. On the Microsoft OneDrive settings screen, under Accounts, you will see the folders you have synchronized from Teams (or SharePoint). To stop syncing the folder, click Stop sync.

    

4. You will receive a confirmation popup that you would like to Stop syncing… the Channel. Click Stop sync.

    

5. In Windows File Explorer, you will now see that the Status of the folder does not have a cloud. This means you can safely delete the files from your computer without deleting them from the cloud (Teams or SharePoint).

We hope this article was helpful. Please let us know if you have any questions.