We all often save crucial documents and pictures in Documents, Pictures and Desktop folders. All these folders are located in your system drive (where Windows 10 is installed) by default, meaning when you reinstall Windows 10 or perform a clean install of Windows 10, these folders and files in them are deleted.
Because of this, there is a provision in Windows 10 and earlier versions to change the default location of Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders. However, very few users relocate these folders and lose their data while reinstalling Windows operating system. To change the default location, refer to our how to move Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and Pictures folders to another drive guide.
If you are on Windows 10 and using OneDrive, you can change the default location of Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders to OneDrive from the system folder. As you know, having data in a cloud account is one of the best ways out there to protect your data.
The benefit of saving Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders in OneDrive is that you don’t need to manually back up these folders or files in these folders as they are automatically being backed up.
When you choose OneDrive as the default location, Windows 10 creates Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders in your OneDrive account. All feature files and folders that you might save in these folders will be automatically saved in the OneDrive account.
Users who have tens of GBs of free space in OneDrive should consider changing the default location of Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders to OneDrive in Windows 10.
IMPORTANT: When you delete a file or folder from one of these folders, it will be removed from OneDrive as well.
Save desktop, documents and pictures folders to OneDrive in Windows 10
Complete the directions to save Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders to your OneDrive account.
Step 1: Right-click on the OneDrive icon in the system tray area of the taskbar and then click Settings to open OneDrive properties dialog.
Step 2: Switch to the Auto Save tab. Under Desktop, Documents, and Pictures section, you will see options to select a location to save your Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders.
Select OneDrive from the drop-down box next to these three folders or select OneDrive for the folder that you wish to save in OneDrive.
We recommend you save at least Documents and Pictures folders to OneDrive, especially if you have TBs of space in your OneDrive account.
Click OK button.
Step 3: Next, you will get the following dialog box. Click Choose folders button.
Step 4: Sync your OneDrive files to this PC dialog will appear on your screen now. Select Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders (or the folders that you want to save in OneDrive) and then click OK button.
That’s it! From now on, files that you save in these folders are automatically saved in your OneDrive account. Please note that existing files in these folders will not be saved in OneDrive account.
If you open the File Explorer, you will see green check marks on Desktop, Documents, and Pictures (or folders that you selected) to indicate these folders are synced.
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