Choose Folders for OneDrive Selective Sync on Windows 10/Mac | 2 Ways

How do I choose which files to sync on OneDrive?

“In any case, OneDrive will create its own Documents folder, which will be synced online. But I just want to sync local pictures and videos to the cloud. If OneDrive syncs all my files, it will quickly run out of storage in my account. How do I perform a OneDrive for business selective sync?”

OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage service, can store and sync the local files to the cloud and work online. Since OneDrive only provides 5GB of storage space for free, and the space on the local drive is limited, some users only want to selectively sync with OneDrive.

OneDrive selective syncs Mac or Windows means that only certain files or folders are synced to OneDrive. When OneDrive is used as a sync source, users can selectively sync files to local or other cloud drives. When OneDrive is used as a sync destination, users need to sync certain files from local or cloud storage services to their OneDrive account. Read on to learn how to proceed with the specific steps.

How to make the OneDrive selective sync

There are 2 ways to take the OneDrive selectively sync files from local or other cloud storage, and you can also selective sync OneDrive files to another cloud drive.

Way 1. Selective sync with OneDrive from local to online

Is it possible to backup any file or folder to OneDrive? The answer is yes. You can select local files or folders to be synced to the cloud through the OneDrive application.

On Windows 10/11:

Step 1. Click the OneDrive cloud icon (blue or white) from the desktop taskbar.

✎Note: You may need to click Show hidden icon (^) to see the OneDrive cloud icon.

Step 2. Click Help & Settings > Settings > Account > Choose folders.

☛Tip: If you are using Windows 10 operating system, OneDrive is already installed on your computer, you can search directly for OneDrive and turn it on and then perform OneDrive selective sync on Windows 10.

Step 3. In the pop-up dialog box, only check the files and folders that need to be backed up, and then click OK to confirm.

On Mac:

Step 1. Find the OneDrive cloud icon in the Mac desktop taskbar and click it.

Step 2. Go to Help & Settings > Preferences > Account > Choose folder.

Step 3. In the Sync files from your OneDrive dialog box, select only the files or folders you need to selectively sync and click OK to confirm.

Way 2. OneDrive selective sync from one cloud to another

When using multiple cloud storage, cloud to cloud sync helps users manage backup files more efficiently, and enables seamless file transfer to save time and prevent the loss of important files in complex processes. OneDrive does not provide direct sync between the clouds, and you can help with third-party services such as CBackup.

Download CBackup

Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP

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CBackup is a professional cloud backup service that supports adding multiple cloud services and can help you selectively sync OneDrive to another cloud drive in just 5 steps:

Step 1. Sign in to CBackup

Get started on the CBackup official website and create an account for free. Then log in.

Step 2. Add cloud drives

Select My Storage on the main interface taskbar, and then click the plus icon to add OneDrive. You can only add and authorize one cloud drive account at a time and add another cloud in the same way.

✎Note: CBackup uses OAuth to authorize access to cloud drives and does not save your password, so there is no need to worry about your data leakage.

Step 3. Create a sync task

Click the Sync Tasks tab and the New Task button in turn.

Step 4. Sync OneDrive to another cloud

Click the Add Source button to add OneDrive as the sync source, then click the Add Destination button to add another cloud drive as the sync destination.

You can select a synced file or folder in the list

Step 5. Start Sync

Confirm the sync source and destination you selected and the files that need to be selectively synced by OneDrive, and then click Start Sync.

☛Bonus tip: Selective sync files from another cloud to OneDrive

If you need to selectively sync files from another cloud storage service to OneDrive, you only need to use another cloud drive as the sync source in CBackup, and OneDrive as the sync destination, and only select the folders that need to be synced.

More information about CBackup

☛Schedule sync: Enable scheduled sync to easily perform automatic sync tasks. You can set daily, weekly, and monthly sync to save a lot of time and prevent yourself from forgetting to perform sync tasks.

☛Combine cloud storage: The free space of the cloud drive accounts you added will be combined into a larger backup space in CBackup, and you can back up any important data to this space. Enough accounts can even be combined into unlimited cloud backup space. Click on My Storage to view the total space.

☛Cloud to cloud backup: CBackup supports backing up one cloud to another, adding a security lock to cloud disk data, and preventing data loss caused by cloud disk server crashes and virus intrusions.

☛Backup PC to cloud: You could download the CBackup software to back up your Windows PC to the cloud, which can prevent local data loss and back up data to the cloud to expand local storage when the local disk space is insufficient. CBackup supports automatic cloud backup of files to cloud drives such as Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and offers CBackup Cloud with 10GB of free storage as a destination.

Last words

Try to use the above methods for OneDrive selective sync. You can use the official application to choose to sync some folders from the local hard drive to OneDrive, or you can use CBackup to selectively sync the files or folders of OneDrive to other cloud drives.