How Do I Get Windows 11 to Stop Saving Everything To OneDrive Folder Location?

OneDrive is not a backup, it’s a cloud location of your data.

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The default installation of Office 365 and its OneDrive component uploads all the contents of the PC  \My Documents\ folders to OneDrive, (syncs) and there will be a OneDrive folder in File Explorer containing all the OneDrive content. And in Word etc the default Save location is set to OneDrive.

No docs will be saved to the local PC.

If Office 365 is not installed/activated and a new PC will have a pre-installed 365 Family trial version.

The only other OneDrive is the win 11 OneDrive that has a limited space of 5gb and nothing is saved to that unless the user explicitly save docs to that

Hi,

Thank you for your question and reaching out. My name is Louie and I’d be more than happy to help you with your query.

I understand that you're having issues with the save location for your files in Windows 11 since they are being saved in OneDrive automatically. We can easily resolve the concern by simply disabling/unlinking OneDrive from the computer. You won't lose files or data by unlinking OneDrive from your computer. You can always access your files by signing in to OneDrive.com.

To unlink OneDrive from your PC, follow the steps below:

1. Select the white or blue OneDrive cloud icon in the taskbar or menu bar.
2. Select OneDrive Help and Settings icon > Settings.
3. On the Account tab, click Unlink this PC and then Unlink account.

After doing so, this should no longer save your files into the OneDrive. Your files should be saved locally to the PC. If you wish to remove OneDrive app from the PC at all, you may do so after unlinking the account. You may go to Settings > Apps > Apps and features > search for OneDrive then select Uninstall.

For more information, you may visit this link https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/turn-off-disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0#:~:text=Go%20to%20PC%20Settings%2C%20using,documents%20to%20OneDrive%20by%20default.

If the reply was helpful, please don’t forget to Upvote or Accept as answer. Let us know if you had issues with the steps or if you need further assistance just in case the issue persists. Don't forget to mention the results after the steps given above. Thank you!

Best regards, Louie

Hello Louie,

I appreciate your response.

So, the very, absolute first thing I did with this computer was uninstall bloat and uninstall and unlink OneDrive, as I 10000% hate OneDrive (just my preference).

However, the file path is still in existence, and it houses my Desktop, Documents, and Pictures with the Windows 11 Icons.

I have tried moving the Desktop, Documents, and Pictures, and that just made a regular File Folder Icon location.

I deleted the OneDrive folder, which... deleted access to my desktop through the file explorer, so I had to go to my desktop actual and go into the recycle bin to restore the OneDrive folder to restore access to my desktop folder.

I then renamed the OneDrive folder to the very mature name of "Poop", hoping that would do something and allow me to move the Desktop/Documents/Pictures folder, and now it's path is named forever Poop, as I tried re-renaming it back to OneDrive through the through a right-click "Rename As", and tried re-renaming it in the Properties tab, and also via the Command Prompt. Nothing is working.

My desktop literally lives in the OneDrive (now Poop) folder, for some reason, and I do not know why it does, and I do not know why I cannot move my desktop to just my Users\ADMINNAMEREDACTED file path.

It's driving me absolutely bonkers!

If you need anymore information, just let me know.

Thank you very much, again, for your help.

Hi

I'm Idris, an independent advisor and Microsoft user like you and I'm glad to provide you information regarding your scenario. If you don't want to sync all of your folders in OneDrive to your computer, you can specify which folders you'd like to sync, follow the steps in the link below: https://support.microsoft.com/office/98b8b011-8b94-419b-aa95-a14ff2415e85

For more troubleshoot options on OneDrive: https://support.microsoft.com/office/f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0#:~:text=Go%20to%20PC%20Settings%2C%20using,documents%20to%20OneDrive%20by%20default.

Best Regards, Idris

Give back to the community. Help the next person with this problem by indicating whether this answer solved your problem. Click Yes or No at the bottom.

Hello Idris!

I appreciate your reply! So, after reading a lot of other threads, watching about four youtube videos, and trying a bunch of things out (even going into the registry via regedit), here is how I solved the issue.

I initially unlinked and uninstalled OneDrive right out the box (literally). I kept trying to change the location of the Desktop/Documents/Pictures folders by right-clicking on the folder, going to Location, and changing it there (even hitting "restore default"), and that kept giving me an error.

So, I restarted my computer, and lo-and-behold, OneDrive populated itself again!! I then re-logged into my account, tried unsyning my folders, but it wouldn't do so, so at this point, I (again) unlinked and uninstalled OneDrive.

Then I proceeded to go back to the Documents/Desktop/Pictures folder inside the OneDrive folder, and at this point, I right-clicked on each one, went to "Location", and hit "restore default", and hit "Yes" on all the dialogue boxes that popped up, and viola!

Such a simple solution! I just wanted to thank you for assisting, and to post this on the forum where other people might see this solution in hopes it helps them.

Peace!