Did your Documents, Desktop or Pictures suddenly “live” in OneDrive? That wasn’t a ghost—it was Windows’ Known Folder Move. Microsoft tricks people by calling it “PC folder backup” . Here’s what that means, how to stop it safely, and how to move files back to local storage without losing anything.
Many people swear they didn’t ask for their folders to be moved to OneDrive and that Microsoft did it automatically. That’s understandable because Microsoft tricks people into using OneDrive without mentioning that name.
Documents moved to OneDrive
Instead of asking “Would you like your folders on OneDrive?” Microsoft asks “Do you want to Backup your files?”. Most people would, understandably, answer ‘Yes’ (backups are good – right?). For example, when setting up a new computer or after a major update, you’ll see this “Backup is recommended” full screen prompt.
Many people will, understandably, click “Back up now” since that seems the sensible choice.
There’s no mention of OneDrive let alone the change of folder locations.
Never mind any privacy or security concerns that customers might have about their personal files being saved at an online location.
Even in the OneDrive settings, it’s called ‘Back up folders on this PC’. The “Learn more about folder backup” link has nothing about the folder changes.
Known Folder Move
Microsoft has a euphemism for the enforced change to saving on OneDrive – it’s called “Known Folder Move” or KFM.
Known Folders are the common name folders setup in Windows; Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Music and Videos.
Each of those names can be redirected (Moved) to another folder location on your computer.
The OneDrive change alters the Known Folder locations to folders that are automatically synced with OneDrive.
Windows changed Documents path
If you choose to backup Documents using the Backup option, the location of your My Documents folder changes to a location that’s automatically synchronized to OneDrive cloud storage.
Instead of being at c:\Users\<user name>\Documents\
it’s now at \Users\<user name>\OneDrive\Documents\
For many apps and features that’s not a problem because they look for a “Known Folder” location called “My Documents” which points to the current folder for those files. The change to OneDrive includes a change to that ‘Known Folder’ location.
This trick applies to Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Music and Video folders or what Microsoft calls “Known Folders”.
Undo OneDrive folder backup
Switching back to local computer storage for documents and other folders is easily done.
Go to OneDrive (not Windows) Settings | Sync and Backup | Manage backup then UNcheck the folders you do not want synced with OneDrive.
In this example both Documents and Desktop are synced to OneDrive. The other folders (in particular Music and Videos) are not, to conserve OneDrive space. Pictures is also good to have synced to OneDrive but watch the amount of space used because many of us have huge photo libraries!
OneDrive can be a good thing
Before switching off OneDrive, consider that it has a place and benefits for sharing files (even if just between your own devices), sharing with others and also automatic backups.
There are legitimate privacy and security concerns about cloud storage.
Some people understandably object to Microsoft’s tricky wording which doesn’t clearly explain what the ‘Backup’ really does.
More savvy people use a hybrid or mixed approach with Documents saved on either a local folder or a OneDrive synced folder. Use whichever is most appropriate.
Two Microsoft Office gotchas
Some programs don’t handle the change of folder location or OneDrive synchronization properly.
It’s very disappointing that two major culprits are in Microsoft Office itself!
- Word Master Documents don’t work at all with OneDrive. Microsoft has stubbornly refused to fix this ugly bug in Word.
- Outlook (classic) PST files move and Outlook needs help to find them. There’s no explanation and customers have to figure it out themselves.
Finding missing files on Windows computer
OneDrive Personal Vault, deep inside and tricks
FAQ: common OneDrive/Known Folder Move questions
Windows enabled Known Folder Move (a.k.a. PC folder backup), which redirects Desktop, Documents, and Pictures into your OneDrive so they sync automatically.
It changes the save location of key Windows folders to your OneDrive | Account | folder. Files then sync to the cloud and across devices.
Open OneDrive | Settings | Sync & backup | Manage backup, then turn off Desktop, Documents, or Pictures as needed.
No. Turning backup off doesn’t delete files. They remain in the OneDrive path until you move them back to the local folders.
fter disabling backup, move items fromC:\Users\<name>\OneDrive\Documents → C:\Users\<name>\Documents (repeat for Desktop,Pictures and other folder). Verify apps point to the local paths.
Typically Desktop, Documents, and Pictures. Admin policies can include others.
During setup or after updates, Windows can show a full-screen prompt encouraging PC folder backup to OneDrive. Accepting it enables Known Folder Move.
Your IT policy may enforce folder redirection. If the settings are locked, contact your administrator to request a change or exception.
