Why does unlinking from OneDrive deletes all files and folders formerly synced on PC?

Question

I unchecked folders from sync list, and it immediately deleted all my folders on PC. The same happened when I "quit OneDrive" from the device. This is a disaster since I have to resync all files and folders which takes a long time to do. The documentation seems to say it does not delete files and folders from device (PC) but that's what it does on my laptop. Why is this happening?

Answer 1

I have simply stopped using OneDrive as it is too confusing and intrusive. I wanted OneDrive to sync the folders I selected and that is it. However, by default it tries to sync Desktop, Documents, and Pictures, and when I try to unsync those because I DON"T WANT THOSE FOLDERS SYNCED, it deletes all the local folders with the same name. Who in the world would ever want this as a feature? Why? I HATE OneDrive and all the massive inconvenience it has caused. I have already had to reinstall Windows twice locally and lost two whole days of work because I simply told it to unsync the desktop, which caused it to delete all the local files in Desktop.

It's pretty simple what people want. They want a cloud service that THEY CONTROL. People want to be able to open a cloud service, add specific files/folders and that is it. Is it too much to ask that people be provided the services they actually want and need.

At present OneDrice is disabled. I simply can't risk using such a potentially destructive and overbearing app on a machine that I need for daily work.

Answer 2

Craig, you wrote "So, you should not be concerned about files disappearing when unlinking from OneDrive since you should not be unlinking OneDrive." Craig, I found your answer to be quite unuseful and overbearing. What you imply is that Microsoft has made it mandatory to have our private PC's connected to OneDrive, with all the confusion that results, if we want to run normal features such as Desktop, in the Windows operating system .

Aside from the theoretical privacy issues of this policy, I have an immediate problem with OneDrive that I have been trying to solve. I have two PCs at home, each one for a totally different purpose and loaded with software completely different. I am finding that lately when I install new apps on one PC I am getting a desktop icon for the same app on BOTH PC's. I would like to remove these unuseable icons to reduce the clutter. But if I delete the desktop shortcut on the PC on which the software is NOT INSTALLED, then that shortcut disappears from BOTH PC's.

Investigating a solution, I now find, just today that W will actually DELETE FILES ON MY PC if I happen to uncheck some box on the OneDrive setup to unlink the Desktop (to solve my problem) UNBELIEVEABLE! Tell me it's not true!

As a real solution, would you please tell us how to simply disconnect from OneDrive and never use it again without losing any of our own data on our own private PCs.

Answer 3

Try this idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yXgyrsqraE

Answer 4

My point is that you should stop the backup at Manage Backup instead of unlinking from OneDrive. I don't think unlinking from OneDrive works in the long run. 5GB of cloud storage comes free with your account and works fine unless you back up too many files. See the video I posted in the following reply about avoiding the Windows standard folders: the Documents, Pictures, Music, and Videos folders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xyywXnQpCU

Answer 5

Hi Mary,

Welcome to the Microsoft community.

Choose folders allows you to select which online OneDrive folders you want to sync to your computer. Folders you deselect are removed from your computer. Do not uncheck any folders unless you want them to become online-only.

If your files have a little blue cloud icon, they are only links to the OneDrive files and not the files themselves. If you quit OneDrive, the links will no longer work and will be removed. Instead of having links to the OneDrive files, make your files always available by right-clicking the OneDrive folder and selecting Always Keep on this device.

See this video about OneDrive Files On-Demand: Sync files with OneDrive Files on Demand

If you don't want all folders syncing to OneDrive, go to Sync and Backup tab > Manage Backup and turn off the folder sync. You will be asked if you want to stop the backup of a particular folder. Select YES.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Craig