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
    2015-12-28T21:57:36+00:00

    OK... when I right click on the OneDrive cloud icon  (in the taskbar by the clock) and select "Settings", a dialogue box for MS OneDrive pops up with four tabs at the top... Settings, Account, Auto save & About.

    Under "Settings" all 3 boxes under General are checked - start onedrive automatically, use onedrive to fetch any files from PC & use office to work on files with others.

    Under "Account" there are two selections, one being to "unlink onedrive" and the other on top is to "Choose folders to sync on this device:" with a button to "Choose folders". When I previously checked the setting under "Choose folders" all folders were selected though at the time of this typing it is not allowing me access (choose folders button is grayed out)!?!

    Other than that I see nothing pertaining to choosing which folders stay offline. :j

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  2. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-12-28T16:33:41+00:00

    Right-click your OneDrive cloud icon (in the taskbar by the clock) and go to settings, then choose which folders stay offline. Then when you create a new word doc in one of those folders, it will save to your PC also.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-12-28T03:33:14+00:00

    I might add here that I am running win10 and when I go back and check my local documents properties the path is still showing - C:\Users\John\Documents. :j

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