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
    2015-05-13T07:01:22+00:00

    Hello Shawn,

    I've tried implementing this solution, on OneDrive for Business.

    When I go to MOVE the folder Windows tells me there is not enough space.

    Is that because initially the data is going to be on the local drive twice, until the copy to Onedrive folder is complete, and then the original My Documents folder is rendered empty?

    If that's the case, how can I go about doing this? I have a Surface with limited drive space.

    Thank you,

    Jonathan

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  2. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-04-19T01:18:11+00:00

    Alrighty, it's not quite as complex.  When you set up redirection, it's really just setting a variable in the registry (screenshots previously in this thread).  If you use the normal right-click/properties to change the location with the 'friendly' dialog, it will offer to move and merge the current folder to the destination, so you'll not have any files left in the old location.

    Underneath C:\Users\DickBallard, you may still see a Documents folder, but going "into" that folder would show the contents of the location selected on the properties. It's basically a shortcut then at this point.  If you opened the Documents folder that appears under your username, or the one inside OneDrive folder, you'd see the same files. It's not two copies, they are really just two access points to the same thing.

    • Just like you can go to http://www.microsoft.com or http://microsoft.com and see the same thing (if the webmaster has decided that to be true, which is usually).
    • Another example is that you can map the same network drive to two different letters. So opening Q: drive and L: drive might show the same thing, but it's not duplication, just two ways to get to the same place.

    Many companies have used this all the way back to '95 when the My Documents folder first became a variable that could be controlled.  At work if I save (or any program saves) to my "My Documents" folder, it's really saving to a mapped network hard drive.  I use my Documents folder like normal (or I could take the long way down that network chain). The advantage here is just like with OneDrive: I can use my Documents folder just like normal, but all my files are really saving to a common network location so they are accessible to me from any computer and not just that one computer.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-04-17T07:30:48+00:00

    OK, thank you for clarifying the origins of the two Documents folders, the local version and the OneDrive version. I understand the reasons for the separation. But I also need to understand how things work regarding folders and application file references affected by the redirect operation.

    To restate the question, if I set up the redirect as suggested, will I have two Documents folders in OneDrive (with the same name?) or will the two Documents folders be merged into one folder. If merged, then how are the duplicate files and folders handled?

    And the second question, does the redirect get recognized by application programs so that those apps are able to find their data files when needed without redoing pathways within those programs?

    And finally, since my local Documents folder contains many subfolders. I assume that the redirect will affect all of them as well. So then what can I do if I only want some of those subfolders in the OneDrive Documents folder?

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