How to Back up Important PC Folders to OneDrive in Windows 11

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website gdaceab

This article describes steps to back up and manage important folders to OneDrive in Windows 11.

The OneDrive app lets you sync files and folders on your computer with Microsoft cloud, allowing you to access them anywhere on your mobile devices and other computers using the service.

You can automatically back up your essential folders (your Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders) on your device with the OneDrive app.

When you use the OneDrive app to back up your files, the files and data will be stored online on Microsoft cloud servers. In addition, other devices connected to the same Microsoft cloud servers will be able to see and manage your files.

If you’re signed in to the OneDrive sync app on your computer, you can use File Explorer to access your OneDrive data and content.

Manage OneDrive Backup in Windows 11

As described above, you can automatically back up your essedevice’s initial folders (your Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders) on your device with the OneDrive app.

If you need to add or remove folders later, use the app to manage your backup.

Here’s how to manage OneDrvie backup.

First, set up OneDrive in Windows 11. Once OneDrive is set up, you can manage backing up your essential PC files and documents.

Open the OneDrive app from the Start menu or browse to the OneDrive installed location at (“C:\Program Files\Microsoft OneDrive\OneDrive.exe “).

You can also quickly access the OneDrive icon from the Taskbar overflow.

onedrive icon on the taskbar overview
onedrive icons on the taskbar overview

When the app opens, click on the Help & Settings (gear) icon and then on Settings.

onedrive help and settings button
onedrive help and settings button

On the Settings pane, click the “Manage backup” button under Sync and backup.

windows back up important pc folders to onedrive
windows back up important pc folders to onedrive

You can turn back up your (Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Music, and Videos) folders on the Manage backup window.

Toggle the button to the On position to enable backing up the folders you want to back up.

If you do not wish to back up a folder, toggle the button back to the Off position.

windows onedrive app sync and protect your folders
windows onedrive app sync and protect your folders

Important info to remember:

  • Make sure the entire file path, including the file name, contains fewer than 260 characters.
  • OneDrive can’t sync files over 250GB.
  • File names can’t start with a space or include any of these characters: \ : / * ? < > ” |.

That should do it!

Reference:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/back-up-your-folders-with-onedrive-d61a7930-a6fb-4b95-b28a-6552e77c3057?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

Conclusion:

This post showed you how to back up and manage your essential PC files using the OneDrive app. Please use the comment form below if you find any errors above or have something to provide.

Posted by
Richard W

I love computers; maybe way too much. What I learned I try to share at geekrewind.com.

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