How Do I Recover From Turning the OneDrive Backup “Feature” Off?

Undoing the damage.

I’ve talked a lot about how the OneDrive backup “feature” is not a feature at all, but rather a confusing configuration change that risks data loss.

Turning it on (accidentally or otherwise) makes changes you might not expect.

Turning it off, however, does not undo the changes you would expect.

Turning OneDrive Backup off

OneDrive’s backup “feature” can cause confusion and risk of data loss. Enabling it moves files to OneDrive without clear notice. Turning it off doesn’t restore files to their original location; you must manually move them back. Avoid this “feature” to keep control of your data.

Before OneDrive

I’ll use the “Documents” folder for examples throughout this article, but this applies equally to Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Music, and Videos folders.

Your Documents folder typically lives at:

C:\Users\username\Documents

It resides on your system hard disk and nowhere else. Its contents are limited in size only by the amount of space available on your system hard disk.

The OneDrive backup “feature”1

It is frighteningly easy to enable the OneDrive backup “feature” by accident. Answer “yes” to any of the questions Windows asks you about backing up — even if they don’t mention OneDrive — and it’s likely the feature will be turned on.

When the OneDrive backup “feature” is turned on:

• A new Documents folder is created within the OneDrive folder: C:\Users\username\OneDrive\Documents.
• The contents of the original Documents folder are moved to the new OneDrive documents folder.
• The original Documents folder is left empty.
• Various shortcuts that refer to “Documents” are updated to reference the OneDrive Documents folder (C:\Users\username\OneDrive\Documents) rather than the original (C:\Users\username\Documents).

Since your documents now live within the OneDrive folder, they’re automatically uploaded and synchronized with OneDrive.com online (as well as any other computers signed into the same OneDrive account). That acts as a kind of backup.

Its contents are limited in size by the amount of space available in your OneDrive subscription. If you have a free account, that’s 5GB.

Turning the OneDrive Backup “feature” off

It might seem obvious that to avoid all this, we can just turn the feature off. And, indeed, that’s the first step.

If the OneDrive Backup “feature” was on and you turn it off, this happens:

• Several shortcuts to “Documents” are updated to once again point to your original Documents folder (C:\Users\username\Documents).
• A shortcut is placed within your original Documents folder that takes you to the OneDrive Documents folder (C:\Users\username\OneDrive\Documents).

That’s pretty much it.

Note what’s missing: your files are not moved back. They remain in the OneDrive Documents folder, where they will continue to be synced with OneDrive and be vulnerable to several of the issues involved in that “feature”.

Picking up the pieces

In order to complete the process, you must manually return your files from the OneDrive Documents folder to your original Documents folder.

C:\Users\username\OneDrive\Documents ⇒ C:\Users\username\Documents

Note that moving (not copying) the files will remove them from the OneDrive folder. OneDrive will see this as a deletion and will delete the files from OneDrive.com as well as any other PCs signed in to the same OneDrive account.

When you’re done, the files will live only on your PC in the original Documents folder, unrelated to OneDrive. If you’re so inclined, you can delete the now empty OneDrive Documents folder.

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