OneDrive locks files: how can I automatically sync folder, but exclude certain subfolders?

Hi Curlyhairedmomma,

Thanks for posting in the community. We are happy to help you.

I understand the inconvenience you are experiencing and apologize for it. Per your description, you are using different applications/services on your computer, and OneDrive is blocking synchronization changes to other applications/services. In this case, you want to stop synchronizing a certain subfolder (the Output folder) without moving it to another location and keep synchronizing other subfolders.

If my understanding conflicts with the situation, please point it out and let us know.

If I understand correctly, please allow me to reconfirm the following point first.

Regarding "but you can't exclude anything in Documents", I would like to know if the Documents folder is the local built-in Documents folder backed up by OneDrive. If not, please point it out and let us know. If so, unfortunately, the built-in "Choose folders" feature in OneDrive doesn't support choosing certain subfolders among the three backed up folders (Documents, Desktop, and Pictures). This is a known limitation.

Based on the above, one possible workaround I can offer is to use the Mklink command to build a symbolic link to link a local path to the local OneDrive sync folder. Here are the steps. See if it works for you.

a. First turn off the Backup feature for the Documents folder in the OneDrive client. Then move all relevant files and folders from the OneDrive sync folder to the local Documents folder (from C:\Users\Make sure that all relevant files are folders are stored in the local Documents folder, not OneDrive.

b. Run the Mklink command to build the symbolic link

Run CMD as administrator and run the following command. Also, check the following points before running the command.

mklink /d "C:\Users\

In the following screenshot, I created a symbolic link to link the Pictures folder to my OneDrive sync folder.

1). Make sure that the "aaaa" folder has not been created in this path "C:\Users\You can replace “aaaa” with another folder name.

2). Replace

After that, you should see a new "aaaa" folder in the OneDrive local sync folder, and all files and folders in the local Documents folder appear both in this new folder and the local Documents folder.

For your reference:

Can't synchronize OneDrive files and folders from a local file location other than the default OneDrive path

3. Use the built-in "Choose folder" feature and uncheck the Output folder.

Based on my test, sometimes, files in the symbolic link (the aaaa folder) will stuck on syncing. In this case, you can manually pause syncing and then resume syncing. After that, you can go to OneDrive for Web and verify the results. See if you can see these files/folders in the browser. If you don't see these subfolders in OneDrive for Web, I suggest you reset OneDrive and then check again.

When you have any updates or concerns, please feel free and come back to share them with us. 😊

Sincerely,

George | Microsoft Community Moderator 

Hi Curlyhairedmomma,

In addition, since the problem is occurring after the recent OneDrive update, I recommend you report this issue to the OneDrive product team as they constantly check customer reviews and feedback. And a lot of the features are fixed and improved based on customer feedback.

Use the in-app feedback tool to send your feedback for OneDrive: Click Settings in the OneDrive client> Feedback> I don't like something.

Appreciate your patience and understanding, and Hopefully Microsoft will make improvement soon.

Hope you having a nice day and wish you a Happy New Year 😊.

Sincerely,

George| Microsoft Community Moderator 

Please help me understand.

Is there no place to save a folder on my hard drive where:

1. The folder automatically syncs

2. It's possible to opt out of automatic syncing for certain sub-folders

?

Thanks,

Shelley

Hi Shelley,

Thanks for posting back.

Regarding your question, please allow me to explain.

By default, the OneDrive client only supports syncing the three local folders, Documents, Pictures, and Desktop. There is no built-in feature to sync local folders in other locations.

By design, the "Choose folder" feature in the OneDrive client supports selecting certain OneDrive subfolders for synchronization, but does not support selecting certain subfolders among the three local folders that have been backed up.

Per your description, my understanding is that you have used the Backup feature to sync the local Documents folder to your OneDrive. In this case, you want to know if there is a way to only sync certain subfolders in the Documents folder.

If my understanding conflicts with your meaning, please point it out and let us know.

If I understand correctly, based on the above limitation, as a workaround, you can use the method in my first reply. Using this method, you can synchronize other local folders to OneDrive without having to move them or select certain subfolders among the three local folders to synchronize them.

When you have any updates or concerns, please feel free and come back to share them with us. We will continue to help you.

Sincerely,

George | Microsoft Community Moderator