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
    2023-03-19T20:12:54+00:00

    With the number of people having problems with onedrive, I don't understand why Microsoft hasn't made this more straightforward. It seems that they want people to fill up their onedrive space so they can charge for extra space.

    When I tried to stop onedrive on my own the first time, it deleted everything from my desktop. I had to download it back from onedrive which took 2.5 hours. None of their "solutions" are straightforward and I've received dozens of emails with contradictory information. Even the MS techs are unable to solve this. I'm hoping the Geek Squad tech figures something out and will wait for his help.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-19T12:53:44+00:00

    that's **** you have to go through all that. i'm dealing with the same ****. i never authorized syncing to a cloud. what a bunch of illegal activity from microsoft stealing information like the rest, google and facebook

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-02-20T14:56:14+00:00

    Thank you, Marina. My onedrive is set to not start on startup, and it has been better but still points to onedrive folders at times when I'm trying to save or open something. Makes no sense. I'm afraid to do anything else at this point. And you're right, it is a violation of HIPAA.

    All of my files are checked to always keep on this device which doesn't mean what it sounds like it means. It saved some of my pictures to onedrive only but not all.

    The amount of time I have wasted on this is absurd. There should be a straightforward way to choose what to put on onedrive, but instead I've had a tech at my home twice to help me fix this. Microsoft needs to address this issue.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-02-20T14:31:09+00:00

    Had the same problem and am beyond LIVID! Plus it's a violation of HIPAA. Here's what I did: I went to the Control Panel and deleted OneDrive. Wish I thought of that to begin with.

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