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. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2017-09-21T17:40:47+00:00

    When you make a change to the one on the website, the one on your hard drive (inside the OneDrive folder) should receive the update within a few seconds to a minute tops.  You can use the OneDrive icon in the taskbar to watch for the change.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-09-21T16:34:21+00:00

    Well I don't have 1 TB storage. Only 5 GB. I can't move the entire Documents folder to One Drive. I want only to move select files, say Excel files to a folder in One Drive that i created. I did this and can see and open the file in www.onedrive.com. However when I make a change in the on-line copy, it is not reflected in the original file on my hard drive. When I click on download, the file goes to my Download folder on the hard drive. When i sync the on-line, nothing happens to the file on my hard drive.

    I guess I need to just study a manual and get a better understanding of of One Drive.

    Thanks.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-09-20T14:45:39+00:00

    I guess I wanted too much. I don't have 1 TB One Drive storage and don't want to have my entire Documents folder over, just some folders or files inside Documents and have them kept current in One Drive and have the place holder back in the original location.  For example, I created an Excel folder on One Drive on my computer.  When I copy an Excel file to that new Excel folder, it remains the same and does not change when I make changes to the original file. I can only get that to occur when I move the Excel file to the Excel folder in One Drive and that becomes the permanent location for that file.

    The first reply from you all in this thread mentioned "system shell folder" and "registered shell folder" and that I would not find the location option in Properties unless the folder was registered. How do I register a folder? Can I register just a file? Or is my solution to just create new folders on One Drive on my computer, move the selected files to those folders? And have to go back to Excel Options and show One Drive\Excel as the Data location?

    I have found a Microsoft source for Help in Using One Drive and will consume it also. I don't know yet where it has enough deoth to cover my question above.

    Thanks.

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