Why does One Drive keep selecting a folder to sync that I don't want to sync

Question

Hello folks,

Just recently, OneDrive has been trying to sync my "Pictures" folder with my laptop, it's a huge folder and I only want it on my main PC. Every so often, I notice that OneDrive is syncing a lot of data, when I look at settings and select folders, the "Pictures" folder is selected and it is syncing nearly 200gb of images to my laptop. I can't stop it until it has done this, then I can unselect it and go through the process of it removing the pictures.

It has been fine for years, it's only just started to do this in the last couple of months.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi Phil. I'm Greg, 10 years awarded Windows MVP, specializing in Installation, Performance, Troubleshooting and Activation, here to help you.

OneDrive may have made changes to Settings without your knowledge, so go over them now to decide if they are what you want:

If the Folder Protection Backup is chosen in OneDrive Settings > Backup Tab, then the User Documents, Desktop and/or Pictures folders will be moved into the OneDrive folder to sync to OneDrive and (if you want) your other devices. See Folder Protection details here to understand more and make changes if desired:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/116029-turn...

Then there is another setting for Pictures in OneDrive Settings > Backup > Automatically Save Photos & Videos to OneDrive.

Also in Windows Settings > Devices > Autoplay make sure each Device listed is changed in the dropdown menu to Save to Photos app, unless you want them saved to Onedrive.

Another setting designed for smaller hard drives removes files from the hard drive and stores them only in the cloud if Files On Demand is chosen in OneDrive Settings. This feature is described here:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3233488/windows...

If you don't want Files on Demand then after disabling it, allow it to download all the files back to the hard drive before disabling Backup Folder Protection.

If the problem persists then unlink OneDrive in it's Settings > Accounts:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/36246-link-...

Restart PC, open OneDrive from Start Menu, sign in to set it up again following these steps: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-get-started-...

This should solve most problems but if not let me know and we'll take additonal steps.

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