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How to move documents folder out of OneDrive to hard drive?

Anonymous
2023-08-24T13:21:32+00:00

I discovered this problem because of a game I have. I wanted to add a mod, but when I went to look for the documents folder in "this pc-windows (C:)- users - [my user]", but the correct one is not there. In [my user] should be a documents file with all my folders/files, but it has just one antivirus folder. But my personal OneDrive account has the correct document folder. With all the game files and everything. My OneDrive doesn't have enough space for all that **** but my pc has. I googled on how to move the folder out of OneDrive. I turned off OneDrive sync, then went to the folder file in OneDrive, went to properties, then to location and then moved it to the location where it should be. But nothing happened. I tried it again with "restore default", didn't work. Then I tried to create an new folder in the user location and tried to move it there, that also didn't work. Some time passed while I googled some more and when I went back to try again, the location option isn't even available. Now it just says "document properties" and some other tabs, but no "location". How can I move my folder? I'm too afraid to try to just move it by dragging it with my cursor, I'm afraid that this way no save files will move correctly and I will lose all of my progress. I've read that that's something that has happened to others. Basically, I want to move my documents folder to the place where it used to be: my computer, not OneDrive. I have my schools OneDrive for documents and such, the "faulty" folder basically only has program files' info.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. EmilyS726 226.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-08-24T13:57:09+00:00

    Hello, this is Emily.

    In order for us to sort all of these out, it is necessary (just for now) to get OneDrive desktop app back up and running.

    To do so, go to your Start menu and see if you already have the OneDrive app installed. If so, go ahead and run it, sign in. If you don't have it installed, you will need to download it, install it back and then set it up. You can download it from here: https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/onedriv...

    Once you have the OneDrive app up and running again, please follow these steps closely:

    1. Right click on the OneDrive cloud icon on the lower right on your taskbar to go to Settings.
    2. On the "Sync and Backup" tab, click on "Advanced Settings" to expand that section. Then under File On-Demand, click on "Download all files".
    3. Give it plenty of time to allow the files to be downloaded from the online cloud. On your computer's file explorer, you can observe the OneDrive folder and its folders/files inside. You want all of the green checkmark icon to turn solid green with a white checkmark. Depends on how many files you have, this process can take a while, so please be patient.
    4. Once all of the folders and files turn into the solid green icon with white checkmark, you can go back to OneDrive Settings. Very important - click on "Manage Backup" button, then turn off all folders listed there. Restart the computer and your folders shoudl be back to their own paths without being nested under OneDrive folder.

    If you want to continue using OneDrive, you are done here. If not, continue with the last two steps.

    1. After you turn off the folders sync in Step 4, now go to Account tab, click on "Unlink this PC".
    2. Go to your Windows Settings > Apps, find OneDrive and uninstall it.

    30+ people found this answer helpful.
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  2. EmilyS726 226.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-08-24T15:33:36+00:00

    If you have the red x on some folders or files, it means you have conflicting versions of the files. I will suggest moving these files out of the OneDrive folder for now, so that you don't lose them. You can later compare and compile these files. Then you can conttinue the rest of the steps.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. EmilyS726 226.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-08-24T16:58:57+00:00

    Ok, so it looks like not all files didn't turn to local copies yet.

    Can you confirm this:

    You have Documents, Desktop and Pictures folders in both local username folder and OneDrive folder, is that right?

    If so, you can just copy the files from the online Documents folder into the local Documents folder, and the same for Desktop and Pictures folders.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2023-08-24T15:12:02+00:00

    Thanks for the reply,

    I'm stuck on step 4, not all of the folders/files have turned green, some are red with an x, saying "error". One folder "Electronic arts" has the red circle. And one of the game folders inside of it also has the red circle. Inside the game folder are some other files and folders that have the red circle, but not all of them. Should I find out if some of the files are safe to delete for the game to work, or is it okay to continue with step 4?

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-08-24T15:47:49+00:00

    Fixed the x part, restarted my computer but the files/folders are still only in OneDrive, nothing on the computer :// Anything else I can try?

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