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How can I move Windows 11 files saved in One Cloud to a hard drive?

Anonymous
2025-03-26T19:51:51+00:00

I am helping someone in my community with questions about her Windows 11 Dell laptop. Another person designated One Cloud as the default for file storage. The computer owner wants to save the files only to her computer. I found instructions on this site for unlinking One Cloud but I need to know how to copy her files from One Cloud to her computer's hard drive. Does unlinking automatically transfer the files or should I save them to a thumb drive before unlinking One Cloud? If that is the best way to achieve the goal, can we then transfer the files to folders on her computer?

As I completed this form, I found that Windows 11 is not listed under "Products*" so I selected "Microsoft 365 and Office."

Thank you.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Charles Kenyon 166.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-03-26T20:45:27+00:00

    First, it is "OneDrive" not "One Cloud." The wrong jargon is going to give you wonky search results.

    Which files?

    Documents? Spreadsheets? Presentations?

    You find them in your OneDrive and copy them to non-synced folders on your hard drive.

    You change the default Save location in Word and other Apps to be the local computer.

    File > Options > Save

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  1. Charles Kenyon 166.5K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-03-27T06:24:51+00:00

    You are welcome.

    No apology necessary. The terms tend to be arcane, but using the right jargon generates better searches.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-03-26T22:29:00+00:00

    Thank you. When I go back to help this person I will try your suggestion.

    And I apologize for mis-naming the cloud feature.

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-03-26T20:08:50+00:00

    Thanks, but I think you have misunderstood me. I know that One Cloud is not a back-up but a cloud storage function. Second, this person does not have Office 365 but Windows 11. The only reason I mentioned Office 365 is the only OS listed under the "Products*" drop down menu at the end of the box where I entered my question.

    So my questions remains, how in WIndows 11, can we move files from One Cloud and store them locally, as I do on my Windows 11 computer.

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-03-26T19:57:08+00:00

    O365? then thats not going to work

    It seems that you misunderstood the concept of o365 and probably confused by MS Marketings use of the word “Backup”

    OneDrive is not a backup, it’s a cloud location of your data.

    The default installation of Office 365 and its OneDrive component uploads all the contents of the PC \My Documents\ folders to OneDrive, (syncs) and there will be a OneDrive folder in File Explorer containing cached copy of all the OneDrive content. And in Word etc the default Save location is set to OneDrive.

    No Docs/data is stored on the local PC

    You cannot remove OneDrive on a retail O365

    If you dont wish to use OneDrive there are numerous settings that need to be changed in each O365 component, but OneDrive will still be the default save location

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