How to Change Folder Color in OneDrive on Windows 11

This guide explains how to change the color of your folders within OneDrive on Windows 11. Customizing folder colors helps you stay organized and find your important files faster.

Why change folder colors?

Changing folder colors allows you to visually categorize your workspace. Instead of looking at a sea of identical yellow folders, you can assign specific colors to different projects or priorities. This makes navigation much more efficient.

What happens when you are done?

Once you apply a new color, your folder will take on that appearance within the OneDrive section of File Explorer. Note that for personal Microsoft accounts, these color changes are local to your computer. For business or school accounts, these colors will sync across your other devices.

OneDrive sync files is built into Windows. It keeps your folders synced between your computer and the cloud. This allows you to access files from your phone or the OneDrive website at OneDrive.live.com. Any changes made to these files will sync automatically when you are online.

For more information, see the official announcement here: Welcome to the New Era of Microsoft OneDrive: AI, Productivity, and Memories at Your Fingertips | Microsoft Community Hub

Steps to Change Your Folder Color

Note: You do not need administrative privileges to perform these steps, as this only affects your personal user folder view.

1. Ensure that OneDrive is running and that sync is not paused.
2. Open your OneDrive folder in File Explorer by pressing the Win + E keys.
3. Right-click on the folder you want to change. Select OneDrive, then click on Folder color.
4. Choose your desired color from the list and click Apply.

Yellow is the default color. When you choose a different color, the folder will no longer show thumbnail previews of the files inside. If you want to see your thumbnail previews again, simply change the folder color back to Yellow.

5. Your folder will now display the new color.

Summary

Customizing your OneDrive folder colors is a simple way to improve your file management system. By right-clicking any folder within your OneDrive directory and selecting the color option, you can easily distinguish between different types of content. Remember that while this feature makes your folders look unique, switching away from the default yellow will turn off the file preview thumbnails for that specific folder.