Onedrive is horrible, invasive and impossible

Anonymous
2023-02-09T16:57:08+00:00

Without my knowledge or consent, when I plugged in my new Dell computer and signed in to my MS 365 account, all my files were put in a cloud including copies of driver's licenses, passports, and family medical records. I thought okay, I'll just take them out of the cloud, which as we now understand also deletes them from the desktop.

I have gone back and forth about a dozen times in emails with MS techs. Some of their advice caused all of my files to disappear from my computer. I asked repeatedly if there is a way to choose what to backup and got no answer from MS. I've had a tech at my home twice, and he finds there is no way to manually backup or choose what files to backup. We decided to quit onedrive. I now have duplicates of files and paths still pointing to onedrive, so I will have to get more help with this. Research that I have been working on for years has been convoluted and possibly lost due to multiple duplicates.

I've been working from home for over 30 years and have never had problems like this. I'm used to figuring out solutions, but this is beyond absurd. I simply bought a new computer to replace my 10-year-old machine and am now in this nightmare.

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2023-11-01T06:34:15+00:00

Thanks for this, VJA142. I wish I had seen these before I turned on my new PC. After watching the video you suggested and Leo's The Problem with OneDrive Backup, I'm less confused and beginning to wrap my head around it. I don't use the "Documents" folder and have individual folders on my desktop where I save things, but I get the gist.

Good suggestion too about automatic updates. I have always paused updates for several weeks and do one computer at a time to manage the nasty surprises.

Hi Enerak, glad you found Leo’s YouTube videos Re OneDrive helpful, I know I sure did, the light finally came on for me. He also has a web page (ask Leo.com) where he posts articles with links to his videos. The replies to his OneDrive articles are like this forum, full of people (including some IT types) who are all experiencing issues with OneDrive.

What’s crazy is that we all PAID for this Microsoft software, with many of us having invested in new computer hardware, only to turn on our PC’s and have our digital lives literally scrambled and yanked inside out.

I’m glad we’ve had this forum to vent & share info!

Thanks, Vikki

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-01-31T18:45:17+00:00

    I finally got it tamed, got all my files on the local drive and UNINSTALLED OneDrive so hard, it's never coming back!

    And restructuring folders wasn't a problem, but what it did find is several files that said they had illegal or whatever, filenames, and couldn't be backed up. So, the files with irregular filenames are just fine on my hard drive, but not able to be backed up by OneDrive because of some characters in their filenames? That really made no sense to me. Filename rules should be the same for anything using Windows.

    I'm glad to be rid of it. I use a third-party backup anyway, so OneDrive was completely useless to me.

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  2. Craig Long 18,630 Reputation points
    2023-08-16T20:32:41+00:00

    Files on an external drive or a second drive can't be captured by OneDrive without your permission.

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  3. Craig Long 18,630 Reputation points
    2023-08-16T20:15:19+00:00

    The "save screenshots" is turned off, but the folder still shows as \onedrive, so I'm not sure what else to do.

    I put a test folder in C:\Users and it doesn't seem to be syncing to onedrive, which could be a great solution. But it will take some time for me to figure this out. I'm wondering now whether I can make a second desktop and have it not sync.

    Thanks for your response.

    You're welcome.

    Not sure about the Desktop since it may remain a system folder but try to move the Desktop folder using the Properties > Location > Move in the right-click menu. System folders are what you don't seem to like since they are subject to getting captured by OneDrive. You want to use folders with the manila icons.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-07-12T22:03:55+00:00

    Since it works for many (millions) what is it about your setup that is causing you issues?

    Running 3rd Party Utilities that change base functionality of Windows?

    Running Registry Cleaners?

    Applying Registry edits/hacks?

    Not letting OneDrive operate as designed (aka not trying to get it to do something it doesn't)?

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