Microsoft OneDrive: We will remove the "EnableHoldTheFile" group policy

Updated April 3, 2025: We have updated the rollout timeline below. We are now one month away from this change taking effect.

We will remove the EnableHoldTheFile group policy for Microsoft OneDrive from the Microsoft 365 admin center.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 429875.

When this will happen

General Availability (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): We will begin rolling out early May 2025 (previously early April) and expect to complete by late May 2025 (previously late April).

How this will affect your organization

Before this rollout, if a tenant has disabled EnableHoldTheFile and users experience file conflicts, Microsoft OneDrive automatically creates a copy of the file in conflict. When tenants disable EnableHoldTheFile, users may have to manage hundreds of conflicts because OneDrive automatically copies a file instead of allowing users to choose to merge conflicts.

After this rollout, the EnableHoldTheFile group policy will be removed and the experience associated with the EnableHoldTheFile group policy will be enabled for all tenants. If a user opens a Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint file and there is a conflict that requires user input to resolve, the user will be given the option to choose the file variation to keep. If the conflict cannot be resolved, a banner will display to either Save a Copy of the file or Discard Changes if the user doesn't care about the changes that were made.

User notification to choose the file variation to keep in PowerPoint:

User notification to Save a Copy or Discard Changes in PowerPoint:

User notification to Save a Copy or Discard Changes in Word:

What you need to do to prepare

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. Review your current configuration to determine the impact for your organization. You may want to notify your users about this change, especially if the policy was disabled, and update any relevant documentation.

Learn more: IT Admins - Use OneDrive policies to control sync settings - SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn (direct link to the section called Allow users to choose how to handle Office file sync conflicts)