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
    2018-08-15T14:06:13+00:00

    Hello and thanks for all the help,

    I would like to report the same issue as JonathanENZ when following the steps described. I also assumed that moving the folder would mean "moving the folder" and would therefore not be necessary to have extra storage space. But, in fact, what happened when moving the documents folder location (successfully with this method) was that if was copying rather than moving the folder (that explains why it took so long on an SSD drive) . When checking in my users folder C:\Users\Ferreira-Rousselot I found I had the original Documents folder there and a copy of it inside the C:\Users\Ferreira-Rousselot\OneDrive folder.

    When I tried moving my images folder I got the same message as JonathanENZ, not enough space. Although I did have almost a 1TB of space in the OneDrive Cloud I did not have 46GB of free disk space. 

    Can I safely erase my Documents folder in C:\Users\Ferreira-Rousselot leaving the one in the OneDrive folder and thereby get the necessary space to "move/copy" the images folder?

    Or is there way to stop Windows from copying and make it move the folder instead?

    Either way I don't understand why it does this in some computers and not on others...

    Thanks again for all your explanation.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-06-13T14:03:46+00:00

    I don't want my files saved only to OneDrive.  I want OneDrive to mirror the files on my computer.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-06-13T03:20:33+00:00

    Hello Shawn 'Cmdr' Keene,

    Many thanks for the explanation – yes, what a handy back-up for Documents and Pictures folders built in to Windows 10!

    Also, belated gratitude for your simple instructions (maybe three years back now) on how to sync and set the Documents folder to be saved inside their respective OneDrive folders.

    May you be showered with good fortune!

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