The difference between backup/mirror and move
The terminology used by Microsoft to describe what OneDrive does is seriously flawed. To most people, the concept of backup means duplicating files to another location or archive file. That is a backup provides a mirror copy of files being backed up. OneDrive doesn't backup or mirror files, it moves them to the cloud. They are no longer available offline. You can of course disable syncing which is also wrong terminology because files are not synced, they're moved, which is a copy operation followed by a delete. No problem. You can turn off folder/file syncing and copy the relevant folders/files to your hard drive so they're accessible offline. I then uninstalled OneDrive to make certain. The trouble is, a few days ago my Outlook 365 broke because of a webview2 error which made editing drafts unusable. No problem, I did a repair which didn't fix it, and finally uninstalled office and reinstalled. When I reinstalled office, it also reinstalled OneDrive with the default settings, so OneDrive promptly reenabled folder redirection and the files/folders on the local drive disappeared. 12 months' worth of email, a bunch of documents, gone. No file date/time check to determine the direction of synchronization so that newer files replaced older files, no intelligence whatsoever. I won't quote what I said when I found out because there might be ladies present. Luckily my email service uses MAPI so some time in the future I'll have my emails back, I hope. But updated and new files are gone. Did I have a current backup? I did until someone borrowed my backup drive for something they thought was more important. It wouldn't have mattered if OneDrive had left the newer file copies alone, but the files on OneDrive had all the old date/time stamps from when I turned OneDrive off and that was it. Then there are the little things like if folder redirection was done properly so even the command prompt was appropriately redirected. Not so with OneDrive. Amateur. Backup should not mean my files are moved so there is only a single copy left, ditto with synchronization. So not only is the wrong terminology used, but the implementation of OneDrive also has major room for improvement which may never happen. I also have a MacBook Pro and while I'm much more conversant with Windows, Mark Russinivich's Sysinterbals tools etc, and have done extensive Windows application debugging. I would hope my experience is simply due to ignorance about OneDrive, but I that must be true for a lot of people. It's far from foolproof.
"People section" turning on by itself and digging into my old photos without permission
I have used OneDrive on Android for years and just now I had a notification appear with an old picture of someone in my family asking me to type in her name and if other pictures of her are also her. I was shocked and irritated at this apparent privacy violation. I found out a "feature" called "People section" where "OneDrive uses AI to recognize faces in your photos" just turned itself on and decided to send me a notification. How utterly irritating. Microsoft should understand how unnerving it is to have your phone seem to just start digging into your photos without your permission. Why couldn't it just have a notification asking me if I want to turn on the feature and explain what it is? Why show my personal family pictures?OneDrive Android stuck on "We need to update your account"
Hi, Since a few days ago, I can no longer use OneDrive on my Xiaomi phone. When I open the app, I get the following message: "We can't display this item. We need to update your account. This operation should only take a few moments." When I select OK, nothing happens. No sign-in window appears and I can't access any of my files. I've already tried: uninstalling and reinstalling OneDrive clearing the app cache and data restarting the phone checking my network connection The problem remains. What's strange is that OneDrive seems to remember my account because it opens directly on the "My files" screen instead of asking me to sign in again. Has anyone else seen this recently on Android? Thanks.I cannot sync Samsung Gallery with OneDrive
I recently changed my password to outlook and since then my photos sync between gallery and onedrive stopped working. It says I need to sign in again. I did so, I got logged in with the work flow and then I can see only half empty screen asking for permissions between Samsung account and Microsoft. I cant proceed or do anything else than just close the app. It's galaxy S25 ultra, 8.5 one UI. Checked on my other device and it's exactly the same. Screenshot is here: https://imgur.com/a/D87FNP3How to modify which folders to backup on android onedrive app
Currently my Android OneDrive app backs up photos from many different folders as can be seen in screenshot below in section "Back up device folders". How can I modify this list? It seem it ends up backing up screenshots too which I will like to remove along with many other unknown folders. Here is the screen shot: https://i.postimg.cc/9M98hGsM/image.png (I uploaded to another since this forum's thread editor kept saying "Media upload in progress. Try again in few moments.)
Built an Android app for OneDrive duplicate detection (something I wish Microsoft offered natively)
After years of dealing with duplicate photos and videos in OneDrive, I built a solution and wanted to share it with the community. **The problem:** - Samsung Gallery sync creates duplicates in both "Camera Roll" and "Samsung Gallery" folders - WhatsApp media gets backed up twice (original + shared copy) - App resets/reinstalls trigger re-uploads with "(1)" suffixes - No native duplicate detection in OneDrive **What I built:** OneDrive MediaOps - an Android app that scans for duplicates directly in the cloud. No need to download files to a desktop first. Key features: - Cloud-based scanning (no downloads required) - Algorithm visually identical photos even with different filenames - Preview before deleting - Batch deletion **Why cloud-based matters:** With 50GB+ of photos, downloading everything to run a desktop duplicate finder wasn't practical. This scans media directly via the Graph API. Available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onedrive.mediaops&pcampaignid=web_share Would love feedback from the community - especially if you've been dealing with the Samsung/OneDrive sync duplicate issue.
Corrupted VT+ transaction files
We are a small accounting company using VT+ Transaction on a local drive synchronized with OneDrive for backup and file storage. A few days ago when we tried to open the application, we suddenly started receiving the following error messages: Run Time Error 0 and Run Time Error 440, and the program does not start. According to VT+ support the program files are corrupted and the data can only be restored up to the year 2022, as the more recent backups are also affected. Somehow the system is overriding our backups, which makes the latest ones unusable. Any advice what could cause that and how to resolve the issue. Thanks
Can a mobile app programmatically trigger the OneDrive mobile app?
Hi, I am developing a native mobile application (Android and iOS) and I would like to clarify what is officially supported when interacting with OneDrive on mobile devices. Specifically, I would like to know: - Is there any supported way (Android Intent, iOS URL scheme, or similar) for a third-party mobile app to programmatically trigger the OneDrive mobile app to create folders or upload files? - Or is Microsoft Graph API the only supported approach to create folders and upload files to OneDrive / SharePoint from a mobile application? I am looking for an official clarification on the supported approach. Thank you.Can OneDrive mobile sync a specific local folder on Android or iOS?
Hi, I would like to understand what is officially supported regarding folder synchronization in the OneDrive mobile app on Android and iOS. Specifically: - Is it possible to select a specific local folder on a mobile device and configure OneDrive mobile to automatically sync that folder? - Or does the OneDrive mobile app only support manual uploads and limited automatic features such as camera roll backup? I am looking for an official clarification on the supported behavior of OneDrive on mobile devices. Thank you.
