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
    2024-01-31T17:44:37+00:00

    You might find, login, reconnect and synchronize OneDrive to your computer, find and save files to your computer; then disconnect OneDrive. I did that to recover files but then every few days I get a message to login and reconnect but I keep declining. My biggest problem with OneDrive was it would prevent me from accessing files when I needed them, it would show up as a spinning file in the folder manager, think it meant it was busy synching. Other than that it would restructure my folder system, create sub-folder with the same redundant files. I use Google's "Mydrive" for back-ups and sharing files; it's is also free for my cloud storage needs.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-12-04T17:54:09+00:00

    Basically onedrive is a sync program and a cloud storage in one. But both are however contradictory. I want a safe cloud storage with 1 computer as master computer. I want to be able to read it and download it with a tablet or another computer. But those can never change the content. The sync works only in one direction: from master computer to onedrive in the cloud. But now my files are for grabs for any other computer, or microsoft itself. They all can change or delete my files, even from my own computer. And this means all is now totally unsafe. I have to store every day every new file on an external drive. Back to the past instead of going forward.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-12-03T22:11:00+00:00

    I agree it's pretty poor. Basic things like copying a few hundred vacation pics from one folder to another are difficult (and time consuming) on the web and android interface (Enabling it on Windows OS is not an option).

    Ever tried to use the OneDrive slideshow feature? What a POS (and has been for years now judging by the posts of people complaining about it).

    I'm looking to move to a different service too.

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  4. Craig Long 18,550 Reputation points
    2023-11-28T21:14:00+00:00

    You need a backup on an external drive with any cloud service you use. Especially with OneDrive Files On-Demand "Free up space" enabled I suggest keeping a local copy somewhere.

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