Documents folder missing Windows 11 22J2 (kind of)

Hello Gary, I'm Greg, here to help you with this.

If you have OneDrive Backup set up with the Documents folder to sync to the cloud then you need to move the shell Documents folder into the OneDrive folder, choosing whatever Documents folder which is there now to replace it - which is what Backup settings does in OneDrive. You can achieve this by signing out of OneDrive, signing back in again and during the Setup procedure move the OneDrive folder to E. Then from Documents Properties > Location tab, move it into D:\OneDrive folder from where it is now. You can do the same with any other Shell User folders if you want them also backed up to OneDrive. But keep in mind it only allows 5gb cloud storage for free, more for $1.99 month, 1tb with a MS 365 subscription.

If you don't want OneDrive backing up any of these folders, including the Office Documents folder it's placed in OneDrive, then move any files out of it and delete it - which is what I do when any shell User folders I move pop up somewhere else. The official Shell user folder will always be the one with the insignia on it, with location shown in Properties > Location tab.

There is something dysfunctional about right clicking on the actual shell Documents folder which you have confirmed is in E: and when you choose Pin To Quick Access it pins the folder from the OneDrive and not the actual shell folder. Another reason I would not allow any duplicates to the shell User folder.

Feel free to ask back any questions. Based on the detailed results you post back, I will have other suggestions if necessary.

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Greg

Thanks for your response

• I thought (pretty sure) I disabled one drive backup before I redirected the folder since I never want one drive backing up anything. I really do not want/Use onedrive except when I want to share folders between my computers or with others... so very rarely because this has been my experience it does not work or causes a lot of problems.
  

• for some reason I am having a problem with onedrive now. It will not logon. I can logon via the website but not from the desktop app. Do you think if I un-install the OneDrive app it will fix things or make them worse?
  

• Your comments did not address the missing link to the documents folder on file explorer. ANy thoughts with that?

thanks agian!

Gary