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
    2018-08-15T14:16:56+00:00

    It's really likely that the Documents folder in your user folder is actually just be a shortcut to the Documents folder in your OneDrive folder.  It's a special kind of shortcut called a symlink or junction point (not like a regular shortcut, so it won't show the "shortcut arrow icon" on it).

    Here's how to tell if this is the case:

    1)  Open your User folder (for me this would be c:\users\sbkeene)

    2)  Right-click the Documents folder and choose Properties

    3)  Check the Location tab of the properties dialog box. If it shows that the Documents folder is stored in OneDrive (like my Example below), then the icon is just a shortcut and not an extra copy of all your files.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-08-15T16:12:55+00:00

    Thanks for the amazingly quick reply :)

    Unfortunately I can no longer do what you suggest because I already erased the Documents folder. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was an actual copy because after erasing the Documents folder in C:\users\frousselot I regained the disk space it occupied when "moving" (actually copying) the location of the Documents folder to OneDrive.

    So, right now, I do have a Documents folder in OneDrive and a "link" to it in my explorer navigation bar as you can see in the following screenshot (sorry, this Windows version is in Portuguese):

    To show what I've done here is a snapshot of me initiating the same process with the Music folder:

    As you can see (again in Portuguese) it specifically says it's copying the folder to OneDrive. Why it does this, I have no clue... Did I do something wrong?

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  3. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-08-15T16:29:11+00:00

    I can't see your screenshot (they can only be added using the toolbar "add a picture" button, not by pasting into your reply).

    Depending on drives, sometimes a drag is a 'move' and sometimes it's a 'copy'.  You can hold down Ctrl or Shift to alter what is going to happen (as you are dragging, hold shift and you'll see it becomes 'move').

    Or another trick is to drag using your right-click button.  When you drop it on the new location, it'll ask what you want: copy, move, or cancel.

    Or perhaps easier:  to move the Music folder to OneDrive, do this:

    1. Right-click the Music folder, go to Properties
    2. On the location tab, add "\OneDrive" to the file path just before the "\Music" (so the new location is c:\users\name\OneDrive\Music)
    3. Click OK and Yes/Confirm on all prompts.

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