Uninstalled ONE DRIVE and have problems

I am selecting a new folder for my email backups (em Client) from the setting. I still see "downloads" folder as in one drive

how to I get rid of that one drive reference? if I check properties of any file in documents it still says its in users/me/onedrive/documents

This is a popular topic. I accidentally deleted 30 gigs of photos/docs because I deleted onedrive and it nuked those folders, which I thought were just regular folders....but no....they are c:user/onedrive/docs...................

there is a thread started by me where people discuss

Hi,
Might post a link to it you have a couple threads about onedrive lol
Think you were referring to this one

Hi j45, welcome to the ElevenForum


It used to be, you could “Unlink this PC” before removing OneDrive and the folder locations would revert back to for ex users/me/documents
But it’s late at night for me and there are so many OneDrive tutorials now, I am having problems finding the reference.

You could try this tutorial, there is one for each user folder. Try “Option Three” and use the bat file.
Always backup/image your PC before attempting to make any changes to your OS


For other folders, search in the Tutorial section for “Move or restore default location of [folder name] folder”

Please try logging into onedrive website and look there to see if your files are there if any are missing.

As for removing the onedrive folder association with the files, exit onedrive down by the clock (system tray if its there) and then move the documents out of the onedrive documents folder and move them back to c\users\yourusername\documents. Also for example, with pictures : C:\Users\yourusername\OneDrive\Pictures\ move these files to C:\Users\yourusername\Pictures\

This will then remove the onedrive association with the files.

j45 said:

I am selecting a new folder for my email backups (em Client) from the setting. I still see "downloads" folder as in one drive

how to I get rid of that one drive reference? if I check properties of any file in documents it still says its in users/me/onedrive/documents

Click to expand...

Does the actual folder still exist? If this was the default data base location you can point eM Client to a different location. You need to copy and paste all of your data from the old location to the new location if you want to keep your data.

Winuser said:

Does the actual folder still exist? If this was the default data base location you can point eM Client to a different location. You need to copy and paste all of your data from the old location to the new location if you want to keep your data.

Click to expand...

Why not just right click on 'users/me/onedrive/documents', select 'Properties', then 'Location' and then 'Restore default'?

I'm saying nothing These experienced people above will be able to help you.

markw51 said:

Why not just right click on 'users/me/onedrive/documents', select 'Properties', then 'Location' and then 'Restore default'?

Click to expand...

Well, if the backup folders option is enabled, the location tab doesn't show up at the top of the folder list anymore. You would have to first diable the backup folders option and then you can modify the location tab to put it where you want.

Although I like OneDrive a lot, I think this issue with the location folder due to the backup folder options is just dumb.

pparks1 said:

Well, if the backup folders option is enabled, the location tab doesn't show up at the top of the folder list anymore.

Click to expand...

I have my Documents and Pictures folders set to be backed up and I still have the location option. I did move them from C:\Users\Username\OneDrive to D:\OneDrive so I'm not sure if that is why or not.

got the files back
Loosing the files was not my problem. With my Win11 they were in my recycle bin. But specifically my problem is that when i reference a file it still indicates that it's in my onedrive folder even though I deleted that folder.

I want to live without onedrive for now. Maybe later I will utilize it and maybe better off with it. In the instance of my email backup I remedied by having a daily email backup to a folder on my external drive.

Thank you all for your responses and I will digest what has been suggested.

j45 said:

got the files back
Loosing the files was not my problem. With my Win11 they were in my recycle bin. But specifically my problem is that when i reference a file it still indicates that it's in my onedrive folder even though I deleted that folder.

I want to live without onedrive for now. Maybe later I will utilize it and maybe better off with it. In the instance of my email backup I remedied by having a daily email backup to a folder on my external drive.

Thank you all for your responses and I will digest what has been suggested.

Click to expand...

Hi,
Onedrive is mostly for stuff you wouldn't care what happens to it hehe as you've found out all it adds is a complication and confusion

There's another way
Onedrive.com is a website you can go to with what ever browser you prefer and upload what ever you want to and it's there and locally where ever you put the files.
I know it's a wild way to think but it is pretty basic usage of online storage hehe

j45 said:

got the files back
Loosing the files was not my problem. With my Win11 they were in my recycle bin. But specifically my problem is that when i reference a file it still indicates that it's in my onedrive folder even though I deleted that folder.

I want to live without onedrive for now. Maybe later I will utilize it and maybe better off with it. In the instance of my email backup I remedied by having a daily email backup to a folder on my external drive.

Thank you all for your responses and I will digest what has been suggested.

Click to expand...

I think what is happening is that your files are still being saved to your online OneDrive Account. I wish I understood OneDrive better so I could be of more help. The only thing I can suggest is to create new folders for your User Folders in a location of your choice. Just to be safe I would give the a different name. For example My Documents instead of Documents. Then from within your programs, have them save the data to the new folders. It may even be as easy as recreating the original files in C:\Users\YourUsername\OneDrive and right clicking on them and selecting to move them to C:\Users\Yourusername but with the changes you made I don't know if that would work.

Winuser said:

I think what is happening is that your files are still being saved to your online OneDrive Account. I wish I understood OneDrive better so I could be of more help. The only thing I can suggest is to create new folders for your User Folders in a location of your choice. Just to be safe I would give the a different name. For example My Documents instead of Documents. Then from within your programs, have them save the data to the new folders. It may even be as easy as recreating the original files in C:\Users\YourUsername\OneDrive and right clicking on them and selecting to move them to C:\Users\Yourusername but with the changes you made I don't know if that would work.

Click to expand...

That's a terrible example lol ms uses that name in libraries

I'd suggest My rubbish way before that

pparks1 said:

Well, if the backup folders option is enabled, the location tab doesn't show up at the top of the folder list anymore. You would have to first diable the backup folders option and then you can modify the location tab to put it where you want.

Although I like OneDrive a lot, I think this issue with the location folder due to the backup folder options is just dumb.

Click to expand...

I don't, I have backup enabled and my folder properties show the location tab.

Removed OneDrive shortly after installing Windows 11, resorted the personal folders Libraries to Default - and never had any problem ever since. Couple of years of Windows Updates - including Major Feature Updates - and was never enforced back and never caused any issue for missing either.

ThrashZone said:

That's a terrible example lol ms uses that name in libraries

I'd suggest My rubbish way before that

Click to expand...

I never saw a need to show the Libraries so I turned it off. On my main PC I have the documents and pictures folders linked to OneDrive. The local One Drive folder was moved to my D: drive. I moved the other user folders to D:\My Data and used the My when I created the folder names. The Desktop I kept it at default.