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
    2023-08-21T20:11:07+00:00

    I too am a problem solver...

    and have dabbled with many programs as an owner/operator of a manufacturing and online retail business.

    One Drive is a Horrible Experience !!!

    Microsoft has a common problem in business.

    1. They know their product so well because they talk about it everyday thus they actually think it's easy to understand.
    2. Even with all the complaints, they think it's us people that just "don't get it"
    3. The entire idea of UX and UI is based on what THEY think. Not CUSTOMERS.

    Microsoft is not thinking from the average persons point of view.

    If their plan was to trick people. It worked. I fell for it.

    I'm here on this forum because all of a sudden my files are not accessible.

    The posted solutions to solve the issue are just as confusing as One Drive itself.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-08-16T19:10:44+00:00

    Agree, I see another significant class action for MS. They are truly one of the worst companies ever founded, and already have an exceptionally long legal track record to prove it. I once took an anti-competitive practices course in University that described illegal commercial practices like tied selling and forcing users into your products: Microsoft was the only example used as they have participated in literally ever single one of the practices in the course, many of which they invented.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-08-15T14:00:52+00:00

    Under settings in onedrive, you can click on quit which turns it off until you turn it back on. I had it turned off for months which causes other problems. As long as onedrive is installed, it seems that everything is saved in onedrive folders on your computer. Very confusing.

    It would be ideal if Microsoft let users choose what to put in the cloud and what not to. As it is now, I have to work from a thumb drive because I am not permitted to save my work to a cloud. A soldier at an army base told us they are not allowed to use onedrive at all because SOME THIINGS ARE CONFIDENTIAL and can't be put in a cloud.

    I still have problems with thumbnail jpgs displaying as icons even though I've checked thumbnails only everywhere I can find WHICH SHOULD ONLY BE IN ONE PLACE. Also, my text has oddly become a sort of blue-gray instead of black which should be a simple fix. It is not, and I'll have to ask for help again. It's very hard to read. When trying to fix this I've gone through colors and themes and personalization and accessibility which are all redundant and confusing.

    Another thing to watch out for with Windows 11 is it saves things like screenshots or clips automatically into a screenshots folder. I don't want this because I save clips into the folders they belong in for my research. But Windows saves them twice, so every day I empty the screenshots folder. Same with scans. I guess this is a way of clogging up your onedrive so you have to buy more space.

    As a consumer, having options removed and making the system so convoluted is much unappreciated. I'm going to have to take the time to look for an alternative operating system, and I know there's not a lot to choose from.

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  4. Craig Long 18,550 Reputation points
    2023-08-14T05:08:22+00:00

    Why isn't this on by default? Please explain your reasoning. Like the original poster said its an invasive practice and causes unnecessary problems. I just reset me computer and I didn't see an option during setup to stop this from happening. Do the developers even look at feedback or does it all go into a folder that gets deleted by default every 24 hours?

    I don't know. It would be nice if the backup would only start upon your consent.

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