Observe ZDNET: Add us as a most well-liked supply on Google.
ZDNET’s Key Takeaways
- Microsoft is mechanically turning on OneDrive Backup in new Home windows 11 installations.
- Your information aren’t stolen — they’ve simply been moved to a brand new folder and synced to the cloud.
- This text consists of step-by-step directions to show off OneDrive Backup and reset your native folders.
Microsoft is getting extra aggressive about tying its flagship productiveness merchandise to the Microsoft cloud. In the latest launch of Home windows 11, the OneDrive Backup function is turned on mechanically while you check in with a Microsoft account; consequently, a number of the commonest information folders — Paperwork, Footage, and Desktop — are moved out of their regular location and into OneDrive.
Once I checked out this function a 12 months in the past, Microsoft’s setup process for a brand new account on Home windows 11, (also called the Out of Field Expertise, or OOBE) included an choice labeled “Solely save information to this PC.” It was a small hyperlink, straightforward to overlook, nevertheless it was there.
On the newest public releases of Home windows 11, that choice is gone. If you get to the web page the place you add your Microsoft account, there is a paragraph of extraordinarily high quality print that features this textual content: “We’ll additionally again up your information and pictures on this machine to OneDrive to assist maintain them secure.”
Right here, see for your self.
This is a better have a look at that high quality print.
There is not any longer an choice to specify that you simply desire your information saved domestically.
In the meantime, anybody with a Microsoft 365 Private or Household account will quickly discover that new information are auto-saved by default in OneDrive (or your most well-liked cloud vacation spot, should you’ve arrange that choice). That change is rolling out to Phrase for Home windows this month and can arrive for Excel and PowerPoint later this 12 months.
You may change this selection in order that information are saved domestically by default, however that requires a visit to the ever-confusing Phrase/Excel/PowerPoint Choices dialog field.
Why is Microsoft doing this?
Skeptics will level out that these adjustments are in uncanny alignment with Microsoft’s enterprise pursuits. The corporate collects income from its cloud companies, and steering person information into the cloud encourages these clients to pay for extra storage, so … do the maths.
However there’s additionally a major profit for Microsoft clients in these adjustments. Information which are saved domestically and never backed up will probably be misplaced and unrecoverable if the machine they’re saved on is stolen, falls sufferer to a ransomware assault, or experiences a catastrophic storage failure. All of these issues occur!
On the flip aspect, a few of Microsoft’s clients merely don’t need their information saved outdoors of their very own management. They is perhaps involved about privateness or safety or having these information used for coaching AI, however the causes do not actually matter. If you don’t need your information uploaded to the cloud, you possibly can simply say no. When you flip off these options, your information are saved domestically, and it is on you to again them up safely.
How one can undo OneDrive Backup on Home windows 11
This is some excellent news: OneDrive Backup does not delete any information out of your native storage — it simply strikes these information to a separate folder in your person profile after which syncs that folder to OneDrive. Undoing the change is normally a simple course of, turning off the backup function for every folder after which shifting the contents of these folders again to the default folder in your native profile.
These directions assume that you’re signing in with a private Microsoft account and that OneDrive Backup is enabled.
Begin by opening File Explorer.
1. Open OneDrive Backup settings
In File Explorer’s left navigation pane, discover the icon in your private OneDrive account — it needs to be named one thing like Username – Private. Proper-click that icon after which click on OneDrive > Settings. That opens a dialog field with the highest class, “Sync and backup,” chosen. Click on Handle Backup.
That opens a dialog field just like the one proven right here.
Make an observation of which folders are configured for OneDrive Backup, however do not change any settings but.
2. Open a tab for every folder you need to reset
Let’s make the most of the truth that File Explorer in Home windows 11 helps a number of tabs. Right here, I’ve opened three tabs, one for every of the native folders at the moment arrange to make use of OneDrive Backup.
3. Flip off OneDrive Backup for all folders
Return to the dialog field you opened in step 1 and slide the swap to the Off place for the primary folder within the OneDrive Backup checklist — on this case, the Paperwork folder. Click on Cease Backup to verify the change.
Repeat this course of for every of the opposite backed-up folders. If you’re completed, every folder within the checklist ought to have a standing of “Not backed up.”
4. Open a brand new File Explorer window in your native folders
Press Home windows key + E to open a second File Explorer window. Within the tackle bar, kind %userprofile% and press Enter, to show an inventory of the native folders in your person profile. Open a tab for every of the folders you are shifting again to your native PC — on this case, Paperwork, Footage, and Desktop. Prepare that window subsequent to the one you created in Step 2, as I’ve completed right here.
Use the icon and label within the tackle bar (I’ve highlighted every one in purple) to see which folder is in OneDrive and which is in your native person profile.
5. Transfer the OneDrive information to your native folder
Click on anyplace within the OneDriveDocuments folder, then press Ctrl+A to pick out all information in that window and Ctrl+C to repeat them. Then right-click within the Paperwork folder in your native profile and press Ctrl+V to repeat the information again to their native dwelling.
Repeat that course of for the Footage and Desktop folders. Do not copy any duplicate subfolders (akin to Screenshots or Digital camera Roll) from the Footage folder; if these subfolders include any information, copy their contents individually from the OneDrive folder to its native equal.
After you verify that each one your information are intact in your native person profile, you possibly can safely delete the duplicate copies in OneDrive.
How one can undo Microsoft Phrase’s autosave-to-the-cloud choice
Presently, this function is barely accessible to clients working preview releases of Microsoft 365. It will not roll out to the Present Channel till later this 12 months, and to Excel and PowerPoint after that.
But when and while you see this function, you possibly can flip it off by going into Phrase Choices and clicking the Save tab.
Clear the checkbox that reads “Create new information within the cloud mechanically.” If you do, you will see a “Save to native location” field that you may choose. Specify your most well-liked dwelling folder for Phrase, and also you’re good to go.
Any questions?
