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
    2018-02-13T21:33:34+00:00

    "Is there some other way just to merge the two files so that I can access all individual Documents files from either device?"

    I must have mislead you with my reply, because this is exactly what OneDrive does.  As soon as you make a change to any file that you have stored in your OneDrive folder on your hard drive, the same change will occur on every other computer.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-02-13T17:56:42+00:00

    I sounds like I can only use One Drive for the multiple Documents Device backup.

    Is there some other way just to merge the two files so that I can access all individual Documents files from either device?

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-02-13T17:50:24+00:00

    Shawn -- Thank you for the detailed information. I believe the intent of the question in the first place is whether OneDrive (OD) can be a backup, not a second mirror drive. That is, can we keep files permanently in OD, and not have them automatically synch to what's on our desktop drive. The backup would not need to keep other programs and apps backed up, just data files.

    So the request is to continue using the synch function of OD, and additionally  allow folders on OD where we drag a file for permanent storage, not to be modified until we manually and specifically modify, delete, etc.

    I realize there are other third party services where I can subscribe for this, but I'm trying to lock everything into a Microsoft data and device ecosystem to simplify my life! A true data backup would help immensely.

    Thanks again.

    --John

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