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OneDrive Gallery problem

Anonymous
2025-01-11T20:43:07+00:00

My OneDrive is full of pictures in the Gallery. I have tried to copy the photos to a folder outside of OneDrive, and then delete the Gallery photos. But when I do that, it also deletes the photos in the folder outside of OneDrive. It's like the new folder outside of OneDrive is connected to the Gallery, and I can't find any way to disconnect them or change attributes of the files to specify they are NOT supposed to be in the Gallery. I want to empty the Gallery.

New Win11 laptop, fully updated.

***moved from Windows / Windows 11 / Files, folders, and storage***

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | Other | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-01-13T10:48:30+00:00

    Hello Marie Whitaker,   Welcome to the Microsoft Community. I understand that you want to clear the Gallery folder in Windows. It should be noted that the Gallery is a new feature in Windows 11, designed to display all the pictures on your device. The images in the Gallery come from your Pictures folder and all the files in your OneDrive.

    You mentioned that you moved and deleted the pictures from the Gallery, but this also deleted the files from OneDrive. Based on my tests and assumptions, there are two possible reasons for this:

    1. If you moved the pictures from the Gallery folder, the target location of the pictures might still be within the OneDrive sync range, so the pictures are essentially still in your OneDrive.
    2. If you used cut and paste, the cutting process itself would remove the pictures from OneDrive.

    If you just want these pictures not to be displayed in your Gallery but still keep them in your OneDrive, you can do the following:

    1. Open the Gallery folder in File Explorer.
    2. Select Collections - Manage Collections.
    3. Select your OneDrive folder, usually located at C:/Users/xxx/OneDrive/Pictures, where XXX is your username.
    4. Choose Remove.

    This way, the Gallery will no longer display your OneDrive pictures.

    Regarding the nature of the Gallery folder, this thread in the community contains discussions about it. The response from an independent advisor was accepted by the original poster, so I am sharing the link here for your reference:

    Win11 Difference between 'Gallery' and 'Pictures' in File Explorer - Microsoft Community

    I hope this information helps you. You can let us know by marking "Yes" or "No". If you still have questions about this, feel free to continue discussing with us in your reply!  Best RegardsEliac | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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