One drive has messed up my whole PC. How do I get my files back on my PC, and switch off one drive forever. (Please dont answer a question I did not ask)?

Hello all and unfortunately I am the latest to join this long list of people affected by this.

One drive as you all say has not BACKED UP my files but taken them away and created a structure of cloned shortcuts of my my system files and data that are on the cloud.

It was warning me to do this every time I logged in and I eventually pressed the YES button and now its too late.

Now I either keep this awful shortcut structure and pay the ransom to expand my online storage so it is large enough to accommodate my full system

OR spend ages downloading and rebuilding my file structure and reinstalling my packages to get them working again.

System and pref files are partially there so packages do not open or if they do whole windows and toolbars are missing.

I have multiple duplicates of folders.

It is a terrible system and what is worse there isn't a straight forward way to PUT IT ALL BACK LOCALLY.

Why is there not simply a REVERT TO OFFLINE feature?

The commands are not easy to find and are unhelpful to say the least.

I am very disappointed with this and the way I have been nudged into it.

I am fully in agreement with the majority of the posts here.

I have seen many people loose access to software, functionality and lose files due to onedrive and this has happened to many of the students I work with too.

So please could you create a restore / revert to offline structure feature?

I have seen guides saying find the "keep online only" button etc and other commands I cannot find.

It is a terrible way to handle users files and hold them to ransom online.

Very dissatisfied.

I'd like to say that Microsoft has not been forthcoming about what OneDrive is. I too had my whole file system messed up because of One Drive. Normally when one reads that files will be "backed up" one assumes a COPY will be made on the back up platform. Microsoft should make clear up front that One Drive TRANSFERS your files, it does not BACK THEM UP. I've spent an inordinate amount of time I really don't have cleaning this mess up.

I am stuck with windows and Microsoft.

I try never to use one drive as I find its owner MicrosofT frightening.

I use Dropbox, but Microsoft send me messages saying its having problems with Dropbox add ins, presumably because Dropbox is a competitor.

I have more angst with microsoft than any other site on the net

I hope then if something happens you can get them back in some semblance of the same order you put them there unlike some other users have experienced. Me I now have an external HD, and this "backs up" my stuff automatically, and is a back up in the true sense of the word. In other words its far superios than the P.O.S, microsoft one-drive which works neither as described nor as intended.

Sorry if I was not clear.

I DO NOT use OneDrive's automated backup/sync option, because I do not trust what it will do.

Instead, I manually make backups on my computer and then copy those files to my OneDrive. So I have complete control.