Windows 10: Documents folder in This PC is different from Documents folder in C:\user

Question

Windows 10: Documents folder in This PC is different from Documents folder in C:\user

Among the above two options, what is Microsoft's intended and recommended path for savings one's documents for proper functioning including syncing with OneDrive?

Answer 1

Hi Umesh

No, I would not delete any sub-folders of C:\Users\Umesh\Documents, are those folders created by applications installed on your PC?

HI Dave,

Thanks for your reply.

Those sub-folders and file contents of library folder 'C:\Users\Umesh\Documents' are my data files of applications such as Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint .... all of them are identical copies of data files within '>This PC>Documents' .

'>This PC>Documents' has all the content (sub-folders and files) of the 'C:\Users\Umesh\Documents' and more i.e. a few additional data folders.

Therefore, for some reason '>This PC>Documents' has become a super-set of 'C:\Users\Umesh\Documents'.

In view of this, can I safely delete sub-folders of 'C:\Users\Umesh\Documents'?

My only worry is this: While I can see  'C:\Users\Umesh\Documents' and '>This PC>Documents' as separate virtual folder locations, I hope that physically they are not identical storage locations on the Solid State Drive of the laptop. If they happen to be the same physical location, then deleting folders in location 'C:\Users\Umesh\Documents' might also delete the data files from '>This PC>Documents'. Files at both virtual locations may disappear.

Thanks for your time.

Umesh

Answer 2

Hi Umesh

No, I would not delete any sub-folders of C:\Users\Umesh\Documents, are those folders created by applications installed on your PC?

Answer 3

Hi Umesh

No, it is not safe to delete the library folders like Documents, Desktop . . etc. from inside your user folder, you can make Windows 10 unstable

Yes, there is a redundancy in Windows 10, if you use OneDrive, there are two sets of your user Library folders and this is very wasteful, however, you should not delete any of those folders

Thanks, Dave, for saving me from a major mistake that I could have committed if I deleted the library folders such as C:\users\Umesh\Documents, Desktop etc.

I have one more question:

I presume I will have local laptop copy of my data in  '>This PC>Documents'.

The folder at location '>This PC>Documents' is being backed up by OneDrive at location  'C:\Users\XXX\OneDrive\Documents'.

In view of this, I presume that ... I can delete the sub-folders and file contents of library folder 'C:\Users\Umesh\Documents' while maintaining the top-level folder structure 'C:\Users\Umesh\Documents' intact. 

Am I correct in my understanding?

Thanks again.

Umesh

Answer 4

Hi Umesh

I am Dave, an Independent Advisor, I will help you with this . . .

On a Windows 10 PC, there is two Documents folders, on is located in your user profile folder and the other, which is the default location is inside the OneDrive folder located inside your user profile folder

C:\Users\XXX\Documents

C:\Users\XXX\OneDrive\Documents

If it is your preference to us OneDrive to sync your files to the Cloud, then you do not need to do anything your folder structure is set up correctly, if you can locate your files in C:\Users\XXX\OneDrive\Documents

Thanks, Dave, for your reply.

There is a third folder location from where the OneDrive seems be backing up following folders:

>This PC>Documents>

>This PC>Desktop>

>This PC>Pictures>

>This PC>Videos>

Incidentally, the contents of folder C:\Users\Umesh\Documents are not the same as >This PC>Documents>

This means that one of the two folder locations is redundant.

Since, OneDrive is backing up >This PC>Documents (along with other folders such as >This PC>Desktop>, >This PC>Pictures> and >This PC>Videos>), is it safe to delete C:\Users\Umesh\Documents?

Thanks again for your time.

Umesh

Answer 5

Hi Umesh

I am Dave, an Independent Advisor, I will help you with this . . .

On a Windows 10 PC, there is two Documents folders, on is located in your user profile folder and the other, which is the default location is inside the OneDrive folder located inside your user profile folder

C:\Users\XXX\Documents

C:\Users\XXX\OneDrive\Documents

If it is your preference to us OneDrive to sync your files to the Cloud, then you do not need to do anything your folder structure is set up correctly, if you can locate your files in C:\Users\XXX\OneDrive\Documents