How to exclude folders in the Documents folder from Syncing with Onedrive?

Question

How to exclude folders in the Documents folder from Syncing with Onedrive?

NachtMondVogel 20

Some games safe their Shadercache in the "MyGames" folder of "Documents". I dont want it to allways safe 1Gb of data that i cant use when i switch to my laptop. Is there any easy fix?

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Answer accepted by question author

EmilyS726 264.5K Independent Advisor

Hello

Unfortunately it is either backing up the entire Documents folder or none of it. Right now it doesn't support selective folders inside the Documents folder.

However, you can first right click on the game folder in Documents folder in File Explorer, choose "always keep on this device". Give it some time to download and turn solid green for that folder. Then turn off the entire Documents folder sync by going to OneDrive Settings > Sync & Backup tab > Manage Backup.

Restart the computer - that should return the entire Documents folder into local path.

For anything moving forward you want to sync to OneDrive, manually save them to C:\users\your username\OneDrive\Documents folder instead.

NachtMondVogel 20 Reputation points

2026-09-08T05:55:04.86+00:00

Thanks, i was worried thats the case... Im still wondering why there isnt such an option like "only keep on this Device" since Onedrive isnt a new program.
EmilyS726 264.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-08T12:11:34.68+00:00

The "only keep on this device" option is actually available, but that won't change the game folder's path from C:\users\your username\OneDrive\Documents to C:\users\your username\Documents. It will keep files also offline so you don't need internet to access them. But our goal here is to also turn the folder's path local instead of nested in OneDrive folder. It is this feature that's not supported by OneDrive, that we have to take the entire Documents folder out of OneDrive folder, instead of selective folders in Documents folder.

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Your answer

NachtMondVogel 20 Reputation points

2026-09-08T05:55:04.86+00:00

Thanks, i was worried thats the case... Im still wondering why there isnt such an option like "only keep on this Device" since Onedrive isnt a new program.
EmilyS726 264.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-08T12:11:34.68+00:00

The "only keep on this device" option is actually available, but that won't change the game folder's path from C:\users\your username\OneDrive\Documents to C:\users\your username\Documents. It will keep files also offline so you don't need internet to access them. But our goal here is to also turn the folder's path local instead of nested in OneDrive folder. It is this feature that's not supported by OneDrive, that we have to take the entire Documents folder out of OneDrive folder, instead of selective folders in Documents folder.

Answer 1

Yes. The easiest fix is to stop backing up Documents to OneDrive, then keep the game files only on the local PC.

Steps:

Select the OneDrive cloud icon in the taskbar.
Open Settings.
Go to Sync and Backup or Backup.
Select Manage backup.
Turn off Documents.

Important:

Files may appear to disappear after turning this off, but they are usually still in the OneDrive folder and can be moved back to the local Documents folder.
If the game is saving under a path like OneDrive\Documents\My Games, move that game folder to the local Documents folder so it stays on the PC only.

What cannot be done through normal folder selection:

OneDrive folder selection only lets folders already inside OneDrive be checked or unchecked.
Documents is one of the important folders that cannot be unchecked there.
So excluding only a subfolder inside Documents is not the simple built-in option described here; turning off backup for Documents is the supported workaround in this scenario.

For game saves specifically, saving under Documents can conflict with OneDrive sync. The recommended local location for game save data is %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games instead of Documents.