So you’ve scoured the internet but you still couldn’t find a proper way to exclude folder from onedrive. Well, not to worry! I’m going to tell you 4 ways of how you can exclude a folder from your onedrive!
But first, How Does Onedrive Work?
OneDrive is essentially an application that helps to backup your data and important folders, it does that by synchronizing the files that you’ve already included inside the application by selecting them.
OneDrive works by synchronizing and storing your important documents and files into cloud storage provided by Microsoft so you can access them anywhere, anytime. It basically acts like an online harddrive.
Here’s Why You Should Exclude A Folder From OneDrive
When you choose to include your files and folders into onedrive, some of them are large files which obviously take a lot of time uploading, so if you don’t want to go through that trouble then you should exclude them from onedrive.
But you can’t exclude a folder once it’s already started synchronizing, which is why you have trouble with that, if you have very large files like long videos and a lot of photos, then only upload the ones which are smaller in size, or compress them and then upload them.
You might even choose to exclude a folder if it has sensitive data and you might not want to be complying with Microsofts’ policies.
How To Exclude A Folder From Onedrive
Method #1: Task Bar
If you look closely into the bottom right of the taskbar in your desktop, you’re going to see a small cloud OneDrive icon, here’s what I need you to do:
- Select the white/blue onedrive cloud icon from the taskbar
- Click on “more” in the activity center
- Select the accounts tab and then select choose folders
- In the Sync your OneDrive files to this PC box, unselect the folders that you don’t want to be included in the OneDrive Sync and click “OK”
If you still don’t understand how to do this then I’ve got you covered on that end as well, just go to this link and Microsoft has their own tutorial of how to fix the problem.
Method#2: Copy/Paste The Folder Somewhere Else Outside Of OneDrive
Copy/pasting is the simplest solution to excluding a folder from Onedrive, here’s how you can do it:
- Sign into your Onedrive
- You’ll see all of your folders and files
- Right click on the folder and download it to your computer
- Then delete it from Onedrive.
Method#3: Move The Folder Into A USB And Delete It From OneDrive
I know , this is counter intuitive to what we’re trying to achieve here, but if you really want to exclude a folder from OneDrive then it would be best to move it into a USB or Portable Harddrive.
- First login to OneDrive then right-click on the folder
- After that Download it and then move it into your USB/Harddrive
- Then Delete It From Onedrive
Here’s a good USB That You Can Use To Store Your Data Safely:
This method will ensure that your Folder is excluded from Onedrive and backed up into a secure device at the same time.
Method#4: Delete The Folder Then Resync It
Deleting the folder is another effective way of excluding it from Onedrive, here’s how you do it:
- Head into onedrive and move your folder to the recycle bin by drag-dropping it.
- Then resync your onedrive
- move your folder back into OneDrive
Conclusion
Here are the top 4 ways in which you can exclude a folder from Onedrive, for more amazing tech stuff, visit krunchytech!
