Many of us save to the desktop to access frequently used files or files that will need to be easily “found” for temporary purposes. And there are those of us that ONLY save to the desktop. For the visual person, this is a great way to organize your files and folders, much like piles on a desk. Now it’s OK, because OneDrive will automatically back it up, and with our district Office 365 accounts, you have plenty of room to do so. Below is how to set it up.

Step 1

First follow the instructions from a previous post on Saving Those Files to the Cloud to get the OneDrive syncing process started. If you’ve already done this, then you’re all set for the next steps.

Step 2

Click on the Blue OneDrive cloud in the taskbar, and after a second or two, a small window will appear. At the bottom of that window, click on More and then Settings.

Step 3

On the next window, click on the Auto Save tab and then the Update folders button.

Step 4

Select your Desktop folder from the icons, and click on the Start protecting button (not shown). If you frequently save to other folders on your computer like, Pictures, and Documents, you can back those up as well. These folders are usually located under the This PC folder on your computer. If they’re already being backed up, then you can see the Stop protecting under each icon.

You’ll then see the syncing process begin. You may also see green circles with checks on the file and folder icons illustrating the those items have been backed up.

If you receive any errors in relation to a folder not syncing or certain file types not able to be backed up, you can resolve those issue through the provided links or ask your campus Digital Learning Coach for the reasoning of the error and a possible solution. If you’ve synced all your available files and folders located in your OneDrive, you may not see this error.

Step 5

Now you can verify your back up. Go to your OneDrive online through your Office 365 login screen and you can begin to see the folders being backed up and your files available to you online.

Happy Backing Up!