How can I find the folder on my computer that is actually on my PC hard drive and not on One Drive?

Anonymous
2024-08-22T20:33:07+00:00

Split from this thread.

"I am subscribed to 1 TB OneDrive to backup my computer's D and E inner drives sized 979 GB and 883 GB respectively.

After having backup-ed the drives in OneDrive, the data reappear again in the C: OneDrive folder clogging it with 507 GB and not leaving room for additional programs. Why do I have the same data twice in the computer? Please, what solution is suggested?"

The OneDrive folder by default is on the C drive unless you move it to another drive. Your files are synced to the online OneDrive from that folder. If you choose to keep it on the C drive then use the "Free up space" option suggested in the reply above.

How to change the location of the OneDrive folder: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/change-the-location-of-your-onedrive-folder-f386fb81-1461-40a7-be2c-712676b2c4ae

Thanks but I am trying to remove my duplicates - except I want to select the folder on my actual computer, *not* my OneDrive and yet it's masking it as OneDrive, there is no way to select my actual folder on my pc, why? I want to back it up on hard drive because I don't trust OneDrive. How can I find the folder on my computer that are actually on my PC hard drive and *not* One Drive?

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-08-22T02:02:32+00:00

    I see, thanks. So it must mean that Microsoft "understands" the difference between a corporate account vs. a personal account, even if the personal account may have multiple emails associated, one of which is an outlook email. When I was in a startup, we had OneDrive and so my old email from there still pops up whenever it forces me to log into Outlook. A bit annoying, but oh well. Paulina

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  2. Craig Long 18,630 Reputation points
    2024-08-22T00:03:36+00:00

    Also another question - whenever I try to save a file, it gives me a lot of problems: for instance, say I am working on my CV, and I've saved it onto my CV folder on my C drive. I make changes to it, I click on "save as" and sometimes it even changes my filename into an old one (!) and points it to a temp folder somewhere on my Onedrive, which I never want. I want to "save as" to the folder I had originally *picked* the file *from*. So what I end up doing is wasting time with at least 10 extra clicks to make sure that it is pointing to the exact folder I want it to. It *used to be* so much simpler and more efficient and now it's so much more complicated, why? I *don't want to* save my original file to onedrive, I *only* want to use onedrive as a backup folder, nothing more. I don't want anything primarily sitting on onedrive and nowhere else. How can I revert it back to the old system where if I pick a file from my C drive, it saves the file to that exact C drive with the file name I want and stops overwriting a file with what it "thinks" I want? This is horrible truly, you can overwrite a key and important file if you're not super careful. It makes life more painful, time consuming and difficult. Please advise, thanks Paulina

    If you don't want to sync your Documents folder but instead want to backup only a few files, turn off the Documents folder sync at Manage Backup in the OneDrive Settings. Then, save files when you want to by placing them in the OneDrive folder. Make sure the name is unique.

    If you want to sync changes to a file and autosave is broken, do not click on "Save As" unless you want to save it as a new file. Click on "Save," not "Save As." SAVE works the same as autosave except that it is not an automatic save. Work with the file within the OneDrive folder if you are syncing the changes to a file.

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  3. Craig Long 18,630 Reputation points
    2024-08-21T23:44:37+00:00

    You cannot view two Personal OneDrive accounts simultaneously on Windows. That video I posted shows a Personal OneDrive and a Work or School OneDrive, both of which can be logged in and viewed simultaneously.

    If you want to sync two Personal accounts simultaneously in Windows, you must switch accounts to view the other personal account.

    How to switch accounts in Windows 11: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D2U_5KbPUU

    How do I add a user account on Windows?

    I suggest you use the "Add a family member." You may want to purchase the Microsoft 365 Family plan, which will give you 1TB of storage on both accounts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m46arqUXq6c

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-08-21T22:33:47+00:00

    Thank you! That seems to have worked as I had it selected it seems. However all my files are under gmail so I assume that's the mapping to the gmail account. But now I've started another outlook account for all my newsletters and unimportant emails as that was too overwhelming to manage so much. Does that mean I have another mapped onedrive to my outlook as well, and if so, how do I access it? When I click on the Onedrive app, it automatically logs me in? How do I map all my Onedrive folders so that I can see them?

    Also another question - whenever I try to save a file, it gives me a lot of problems: for instance, say I am working on my CV, and I've saved it onto my CV folder on my C drive. I make changes to it, I click on "save as" and sometimes it even changes my filename into an old one (!) and points it to a temp folder somewhere on my Onedrive, which I never want. I want to "save as" to the folder I had originally *picked* the file *from*. So what I end up doing is wasting time with at least 10 extra clicks to make sure that it is pointing to the exact folder I want it to. It *used to be* so much simpler and more efficient and now it's so much more complicated, why? I *don't want to* save my original file to onedrive, I *only* want to use onedrive as a backup folder, nothing more. I don't want anything primarily sitting on onedrive and nowhere else. How can I revert it back to the old system where if I pick a file from my C drive, it saves the file to that exact C drive with the file name I want and stops overwriting a file with what it "thinks" I want? This is horrible truly, you can overwrite a key and important file if you're not super careful. It makes life more painful, time consuming and difficult. Please advise, thanks Paulina

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  5. Craig Long 18,630 Reputation points
    2024-08-21T08:13:40+00:00

    You can try highlighting all the folders within OneDrive or click on each one separately, then right-click, and select "Always keep on this device."

    But first, you don't appear to be signed into OneDrive. When you are signed in, you should see OneDrive icons in the Status column of File Explorer.

    See this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sync-onedrive-files-and-folders-3b8246e0-cc3c-4ae7-b4e1-4b4b37d27f68

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