Using One Drive to automatically back up My Documents folder

Anonymous
2014-05-28T20:37:52+00:00

Hello 

I would like to automatically sync the My Documents folder to One Drive. What is the best way of achieving this ?  The online information on OIneDRive does not make this clear 

Tony

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2014-05-29T03:22:52+00:00

Perhaps the easiest way is to set the Documents folder to be saved inside your OneDrive folder.

  1. If you don't already have one there, create a folder named "Documents" inside your OneDrive folder.
  2. Right-click the original Documents folder (not the one created in step 1), and choose Properties
  3. On the Location tab, click Move, and choose the Documents folder you created in step 1.
  4. Confirm that you want to move your Documents folder.

You'll still see a Documents folder inside your C:\Users\Tony folder, but it's actually become a redirect -- anything put there will actually be inside OneDrive (both on your hard drive and, of course, synced up to OneDrive cloud).  You can even do this for your Desktop folder and other special shell folders that have a location tab on their properties.

Windows 8's Internet Explorer already syncs your bookmarks, but if you have a PC using 7 or older, this is also a great way to sync your bookmarks (Favorites).

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@CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2014-05-30T21:58:38+00:00

The "Restore Default Location" button won't be available, but you will certainly be able to put Documents back to the proper location if you decide to do so later.  That warning is actually a bit of a stretch.

It's possible (although incredibly unlikely), that you would have to go set the Documents folder path correct in the registry, but even that is actually pretty quick and easy if you needed to.

In the registry, this value controls which folder is considered the "documents" folder.  It's under HKEY_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-04-13T07:26:12+00:00

    Sir

    Thank you very much for this information. That is exactly what I have been doing and got things into a terrible muddle.

    I hope I can now untangle everything.

    Yrs  George

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  2. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-04-12T20:22:56+00:00

    Yes indeed, that should work fine.  Just one word of caution, you probably want to set your Documents folder location to "D:\Documents" and have a folder called "Documents" on your D drive.  If you just set the Documents folder to D:, then the root top level of your D; drive would literally become a documents folder, so a documents folder icon, etc.  Besides, you might want other types of things on your D: drive that aren't documents.  In any cause, I definitely recommend making a folder for it and using that.  So many users come here that accidentally set their "entire external drive" as a documents folder.

    Anyway, to change the location, just open C:\Users\Shawn (or whatever it is for you) and right-click the Docs folder, go to properties, and use the location tab to choose the new location.

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  3. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-04-12T20:19:14+00:00

    Hi YaniraA,

    No it doesn't mean that.  The files would still be on your laptop.  When you use OneDrive, your files are saved in BOTH your hard drive and the online server.  So if your internet service is not available, you can still use all the files.  The next time you connect, any files that got changed will get uploaded to the OneDrive server.  Also, the OneDrive server also keeps backups. So if you later decide you need a copy of the file from before you made changes, you can go there and restore the older backup too.

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