RESOLVED - Sync ONE (or specified) folders/files to OneDrive personal

[Kendethar]

Hello,

Without needing to get, configure, and map a NAS on my home network, how do I use OneDrive on my Windows 10 Home to sync ONE single folder? In the Settings' Choose Folders option, I can only select Desktop, Documents, etc. entirely - there's no folder tree drop-down or any options. It's an all or none.

Also, I "backed up" my Desktop for testing and found the location of Desktop went from C:\Desktop to C:\Users\MY NAME\OneDrive\Desktop - MOVED to the cloud instead of syncing from my PC. I still need my data local to my PC if I'm using OneDrive.

Any steps to achieve my requirements would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[#2]

Thanks for sharing the issue Kendethar!

I use the "keep files on pc" option when right clicking a file or folder to keep it on my computer and still sync on pc!

Hope that helps!

Shawn

[#3]

That seems like a solution for the data's storage location but what about syncing only one folder?

Also, annoyingly it dropped all my desktop.ini icon configs so I don't feel like going through all my folders again to set back the icons - don't feel like backing up desktop again to test.

[#4]

No problem!

Art thou saying that all the icons on the desktop have gone blank? That's a bug and I believe the Windows Team is working on a fix for that 🙂

Shawn

[#5]

Going to OneDrive icon --> settings gear --> settings --> Account --> Click the button called "choose folders" and then there is a option to select which folders wish to sync.

Took me a while to find that option as they updated the app to the new design recently!

Hope that helps!
Shawn

[#6]

@Deleted 

The listings of folders do not have the drop-down to the left of the folders. I can only select the entire folder - Desktop. I want a folder that's 3 subfolders from my desktop.

 

[#7]

The 1 folder with a custom icon on my desktop and all the folders I had in there. Even with the correct mapping in my desktop.ini, I still had to manually go through ALL my folders to reset the custom icons I had. Idk why it wasn't updating from the .INIs

[#8]

On the OneDrive Settings. There is a sidebar on the left with options like Sync Settings, Account, Notifications, About... Go to the Account panel and select choose folders.

[#9]

Where get these icons?

[#10]

Forget the icons, that's actually not relative to this OneDrive issue specifically. My apologizes there. But brother, I am tracking where and what "choose folders" is, that's not my issue. My issues is WHAT "choose folders" is. It just brings up that dialog shown in the picture from my last reply and I have no options to do anything.

[#11]

Interesting, it seems the OneDrive is still on the old layout.. May I see what is the OneDrive look like when click "settings" from the icon..

[#12]

Just like yours

[#13]

I see the folder sync as you see it when I am on the main setting page then click "choose folders".. need to click the "account" button on the left on side then you can see another setting page then click choose folder.

[#14]

Yes. That is the dialog after clicking choose folders

[#15]

I think you need to click the folder you want to sync first? If the folders are in the "desktop".. click the toggle and save.. then it should then give the option for the folder tree.

[#16]

 

@Deleted 

How do I sync one folder out of my desktop?

[#17]

Right click folder and click "make offline"

[#18 · Accepted solution]

@Deleted 

Well, I tired that and still all or none. Thanks for all the feedback however.

As much as I basically use MSO for everything I can and love MSO (esp. Excel), their SaaS is just simply trash. The code for OneDrive is just poor, it doesn't have good/useful options, it breaks desktop.ini files, it won't download all your folders when trying to bring folders from OneDrive to PC (it just downloads the ones with files in them and discards the empty ones, which is obnoxious because people like me still have those as part of a file structure whether currently in use or not), and overall has caused many issues. All my IT coworkers and everyone else I know who has similar needs agrees to not even use OneDrive as a solution, past being a non-computer-savvy person who just wants their wedding photos or grandkids on their phone from their PC.

My solution is to use Google Drive (solved all the issues addressed in this post) or buy a NAS if it just needs to be within your private network. If it is a home network and smaller needs, absolutely just plug an external hard drive into your router (if you have one with a USB port) or if needed, buy a NAS adapter for about $15-$20 (USB to ethernet) off Amazon to connect. Use the network folder on your devices from there. 

And, (I'm in IT but I don't recommend doing this unless your a professional) if you know good port security, you can even port forward your NAS to be your own cloud service on the internet from your home network. I do believe there's programs/devices to make that easier though. However, it's still going to be more advanced than using a Google Drive regardless.

[#19]

Okay, what is a desktop.ini file?

[#20]

Windows' folder config files (system hidden files).