I've just subscribed to Office 365 after years of using Office 2007. On a Windows 10 laptop.
I always had my files (mostly Word and Excel) organised in a sensible hierarchical structure, but in Desktop rather than Documents which always led to a teeny delay in clicking through to open them, but not a real issue. I've recently re-purposed another Windows 10 laptop and have got it all nice and clean ready to take my files.
However, having started to use Office 365 I've been tempted to save the files I've been working on to OneDrive. I realise that I've now got 2 copies of the same thing, not synchronised. So unsurprisingly I've already got a couple of spreadsheets properly muxed ip.
Before I embark on anything drastic, what is the general consensus on the best way to store my data?
I've probably got about 2Gb of data in about 1000 files in about 200 folders. It's mostly my carpentry business customers and accounts stretching back over 6 years or so plus the usual personal bits & bobs. Music and Photos are stored somewhere else, not included in the above. I do occasional backups to a removable external hard drive.
It took me awhile to use one drive but I'm converted now, it's great being able to access files on any PC. It does create s copy on your C drive as well.
If it was me, I'd fix the messed up spreadsheets and delete the local versions to prevent future problems. You don't need to bother with the external back up either, log into your account on any Win 10 machine and they are all available. I know Microsoft are viewed by some as evil personified, but Office 365 and One Drive is a great set of software.
What StumpyJohn said
I'd use onedrive for documents, and you may as well use it for everything else, even if you also backup to an external drive. It's another (nearly free) backup.
That's what I do, and it works.
One drive is fantastic once you embrace it.
All our work documents are stored on it.
Means I can access them anywhere, including on my phone when on site, to email RaMs or certification to clients, for example.
Can you set up directories and subdirectories just like a hard drive?
My recommendation is to use the dedicated ‘backup’ function of OneDrive that syncs Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders as described at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/back-up-your-documents-pictures-and-desktop-folders-with-onedrive-d61a7930-a6fb-4b95-b28a-6552e77c3057
However make sure that these folders on your PC contain the ‘master’ data first.
Once that’s done (first sync will take a while) you shouldn’t need any other folders in OneDrive other than the three described and all their subfolders.
That way you’ll be able to keep storing stuff on the Desktop as you always did plus it’ll be backup up, plus it’ll be accessible on other devices.
Latest version of Windows automatically sets your My Documents folder to be on One Drive, which is the way it should be IMO.
You can set other folders to be synced to One Drive - such as Desktop.
Latest version of Windows automatically sets your My Documents folder to be on One Drive, which is the way it should be IMO.
Does it? This is what I see. There's an extra Documents in Quick Access that is still on the hard disk AFAIK on a clean install of 10, which can confuse you.
Can you set up directories and subdirectories just like a hard drive?
Yup. Just use OneDrive in the same way as you've always done. Create folders to organise it all.
I would...
- Make sure you've sorted the Excel file confusion and are 100% sure you have the latest versions of everything.
- Just in case, take a copy of your folders. Put them on a spare hard drive or USB stick.
- Then drag your folders across onto OneDrive\Documents. It will take a while to sync it all up.
Brilliant. Thanks everyone. I'll organise my new laptop, take a copy, read the instructions and set aside some time to set it going.
Office 365 and One Drive is a great set of software.
My daughter wouldn't agree right now!
She's just discovered that an entire days uni work has disappeared. Office 365 said it was saving..... But it hasn't saved anything since yesterday afternoon.
She's devastated and is "going back to Google Docs as I've never had a problem with it"
1. Store all your documents in the My Documents folder in a logical, hierarchical system. This makes it easy to backup and to find stuff. People who scatter shit all over the Desktop are just asking for trouble. You can change the location of My Documents by right clicking on it and going to Properties.
2. Use OneDrive or Dropbox to sync everything. Set the My Documents location in whichever of those you use and then set all your machines up identically. Then, whichever one you log onto, you can resume your work exactly as you left off. (Just make sure you're connected to the internet and everything is synched, obviously. Also, make sure you save your work and close the file when you finish work or else you will end up with conflicted copies.)
Before making any drastic changes make sure you have at least one backup on a drive that you can physically separate from your computer.
The problem you’ve already encountered is common. Directory and document confusion is common with OneDrive. And it is easy to inadvertently commit to syncing, or updating files in the wrong direction.
when OneDrive works well it is great. When problems happen it is awful. Plus it has some typical Microsoft file name constraints that can be mildly frustrating: ‘there are problems syncing some files’.
OneDrive is very useful. It is not a substitute for regular backups. Adding a service like Backblaze and regularly backing up to a physical medium is a great way to avoid a number of problems later.
My daughter wouldn’t agree right now!
She’s just discovered that an entire days uni work has disappeared. Office 365 said it was saving….. But it hasn’t saved anything since yesterday afternoon.
She’s devastated and is “going back to Google Docs as I’ve never had a problem with it”
This I have found to be a problem with some work machines sometimes. OneDrive says all sorts of things and when you look for your file in recents it shows you old stuff or claims it just never was. In a variant of the OP’s original mixup, there are a few places to look to find the ‘lost’ work. Try the local folders that are allegedly being synced rather than the ‘OneDrive/my documents (or whatever)’. Try a windows explorer search for the file names or some in-file keywords. The stuff is often somewhere. Good luck.
This kind of problem is sufficiently common that several past colleagues would work on documents in non-synced folders and manually commit them to OneDrive rather than suffer deadline document disappearance despair. bypassing the alleged benefits of constant syncing with the assurance that they had a ‘real’ document in a ‘real’ place whose destiny they had more control over.
My daughter wouldn’t agree right now!
I have this problem when working on larger files - they don't appear locally until the sync' is complete, even when saved locally.
Adobe files are also an issue - my work around is to save and then email it to myself.
Also have a 1GB citation database. Syncronising that gets the laptop fan blowing.
... just discovered that an entire days uni work has disappeared. Office 365 said it was saving…..
Oof, that's bad news. In addition to those suggestions up there 👆 go to the online version of One Drive and see if that has the latest version. I sometimes have to do this because work security settings means syncing my personal One Drive on my work laptop is a bit flakey.
Try the local folders that are allegedly being synced rather than the ‘OneDrive/
She was using the online version of Word, so nothing stored locally unfortunately.
{She had to redo the work and finished at 1:15 this morning!}
People who scatter shit all over the Desktop are just asking for trouble.
Shit, I've been rumbled!
{She had to redo the work and finished at 1:15 this morning!}
☹ That's a bit rubbish.
People who scatter shit all over the Desktop are just asking for trouble.
Not any more - because your desktop is stored in OneDrive too!
She’s just discovered that an entire days uni work has disappeared. Office 365 said it was saving….. But it hasn’t saved anything since yesterday afternoon.
Daughter of a friend did this, came to me for help, not much I could do, unfortunately. With her, she'd been working offline on Google Docs for days, shut the lid of the laptop and walked away. Came back later,rebooted and lost all her work 👎🏻
So yeah, you have to keep an eye on it. My OneDrive has been pretty solid though, not had a problem. Good suggestions to keep a backup anyway. I take a copy regularly and store it away from the house.