Copy files to OneDrive

The safest way to place your files into OneDrive is to copy them from File Explorer and paste them into your OneDrive folders. Dragging them can result in files being dropped into unintended folders, making it difficult to locate them afterwards.

IMPORTANT: When naming your OneDrive files, keep them short and meaningful, and do not add characters such as # or ✱.

You can copy files to your OneDrive folder in one of the two following ways:

  1. Individually from your computer to OneDrive.
  2. Sync the entire Documents folder from your computer to your OneDrive.
NOTE: The following instructions assume that you already have a OneDrive for Business account setup on your computer. If you have not yet set up OneDrive, please see the Set up OneDrive Help Resources page for instructions.

Copy files to OneDrive

For instructions to sync your entire Documents folder to OneDrive, follow these steps:

  1. Open File Explorer (to access File Explorer, type File Explorer into your Windows search box and click the search result, or click the File Explorer shortcut on the taskbar).
    access file explorer
  2. In File Explorer, select the document that you want to copy to OneDrive, right‑click, and then select Copy.
  3. In File Explorer, select OneDrive – Red River College in the left‑hand pane, right‑click in the blank space in the middle window, and then select Paste.
NOTE: Although your document appears in your OneDrive folder, it has not been removed from its original storage location. In addition, if you make changes to the original document and save it to File Explorer, your OneDrive version of the document will not automatically update.

Sync your Documents folder with OneDrive

If you want to sync all of your files from your Documents library on your laptop or computer to your OneDrive account, please visit Microsoft’s Back up your folders with OneDrive webpage for instructions.

IMPORTANT: This will copy all files from your computer’s Documents library. DO NOT store or upload any sensitive, confidential, or personal information that is covered under the following College policies:

Please see the Office 365 usage recommendations webpage for more information about saving personal or confidential information to OneDrive.

← Back to Office 365 (OneDrive & OneNote)