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I am trying to troubleshoot Microsoft OneDrive, in particular I'd like to know which files it has processed. I found this folder which contains a bunch of ODL files:

C:\Users(user)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\logs\Personal

For instance, one filename is SyncEngine-2016-2-16.255.7212.11.odl

How do I open these ODL files? They appear to be in some binary format.

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  • Well, from an online search, Microsoft uses .odl as an extension for Object Descriptor Langague files, as part of the COM+/OLE. msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/… Here is the Format Definition: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/… ODL's are the glue that combines objects into a library. I can imagine ways that OLE might be involved in a MS synch product, but I have no idea if that is the case.
    – Frank Thomas
    Feb 16, 2016 at 3:23
  • I am familiar with Object Descriptor Language files, but this is not one of them. I ended up with the same result as you when I did a Google search which is why I came here. The ODL files I am talking about here are in some binary format and have nothing to do with COM.
    – tom
    Feb 16, 2016 at 12:21
  • @user1042151 any news?
    – El Mac
    Jun 1, 2016 at 12:11
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    I'm suspicious that in this case ODL stands for "OneDrive Log". On a whim, I tried to open one in an SQLite database browser, and it recognized it as an encrypted SQLite database. No idea what the password is. Or that could be a total red herring.
    – Vimes
    Aug 31, 2016 at 16:02
  • The logs have changed location in macOS Sierra - OneDrive v17.3.6517 Can open *.log but it looks like *.odl are encrypted SQL Lite files /Users/[username]/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.OneDrive-mac/Data/Library/Logs (And apologies in advance, but not enough credits to comment yet)
    – David Harris
    Oct 1, 2016 at 12:14

2 Answers 2

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Although ODL files are SQL databases, the OneDrive logs are exclusively for MS tracking and not to the general public. To enforce that rule, Microsoft encrypted it using a confidential key. Therefore, it is impossible to open them without knowing the correct key.

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    OPs question was about Microsoft OneDrive, not Edge. Your answer very may well be correct, but please edit it to accurately reflect an answer to OPs actual question.
    – music2myear
    Feb 20, 2019 at 23:04
  • @music2myear Thanks for pointing that out, I've edited my answer
    – Anonymous
    Sep 24, 2019 at 20:25
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The OneDrive ODL files are binary log files stored unencrypted, but obfuscated, and contain detailed debug logs about all actions performed by the OneDrive client. Since the log files are regularly uploaded to Microsoft servers, the obfuscation serves to not see the file names on their side; not to keep the local user from accessing it. The dictionary to un-obfuscate them is available unencrypted on the local disk. Note that the file extensions are transferred verbatim.

To access this file, there is an open source tool available. From the same author, there is some good information on how the files are structured, if one is not inclined to read the source.

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    This response seems like it should be the accepted answer -- this worked perfectly for my needs.
    – mhud
    Apr 12, 2023 at 23:22
  • Thanks for the feedback, @mhud. :)
    – AnoE
    Apr 13, 2023 at 7:06

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