How Does OneDrive Sync from PC to Cloud Automatically

Microsoft OneDrive Overview

OneDrive is Microsoft's cloud service that connects you to all your files. It lets you store and protect your files, share them with others, and access them from anywhere on all your devices. It is a powerful yet simple-to-use cloud storage platform for small businesses, enterprises, and everything in between.

Unlike other cloud storage providers, most of the advanced enterprise-centric features in OneDrive are available to every subscription type, enabling organizations to use OneDrive in whatever way is best for them.

Why Sync PC Folder to OneDrive?

Users can upload, download and interact with OneDrive files through a web browser, but the ideal OneDrive experience comes from syncing apps for Windows and Mac, as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android. With these clients and apps, it's much easier to save and interact with files to OneDrive than to visit the website every time you need it.

The many benefits of OneDrive include:

• Access to files anywhere, anytime, making them available for collaboration from anywhere.
• An organizational platform for files.
• Secure storage of files and information, freeing up device storage space.
• Customizable sync experience (for administrators).

How to Automatically Sync Local Files to OneDrive

In this article, you are provided with two ways on how OneDrive sync from PC to cloud. One is to use OneDrive desktop app, and the other is to use professional third-party sync software. Let's see which one is more suitable for you!

Method 1. Sync PC folder to OneDrive with its Desktop App

In Windows 8.1 and above, the OneDrive app is already pre-installed on your computer. All you need to do is search for OneDrive and check if it is already installed. If you are running Windows 7 or older, go to the official website, download the OneDrive desktop application and install it on your computer.

1. Press Windows + S to open the search box for OneDrive. Click the best match result to open it, and then sign in with your Microsoft account.
2. You are on the Your OneDrive folder page, select Next to accept the default folder location for OneDrive files.

🍵 Note: If you want to change the location of the folder, select Change location. This is the best time to make this change, since you haven't synced any files so far.

3. Then you will see some introduction about OneDrive, just click Next to continue.
4. Then click Open my OneDrive folder on the Your OneDrive is ready page.

5. When you open this page, it will automatically select these files for you and OneDrive will sync from PC to cloud. You can drag and drop or copy and paste the files/folders you want to sync into these folders. The client will automatically sync them from your PC to the OneDrive cloud service.

While syncing files from PC to cloud using OneDrive desktop program, some users have reported some issues that you need to be aware of.

• If the local files/folders you want to sync to OneDrive on PC are located in different paths, repeatedly dragging and dropping or copying and pasting files/folders will be very cumbersome and time-consuming.
• When you want to sync changes to the cloud, you must make the changes from the OneDrive folder, not locally from your computer. Otherwise, the changes will not be synced.
• Sometimes OneDrive doesn't sync. For example, you experience problems like OneDrive syncing pending.

Method 2. Automatically Sync All Folders to OneDrive with AOMEI Backupper

Given that you may encounter some of the above problems when using OneDrive desktop-side program, the second method here provides you with safer and more convenient third-party file syncing software to help you sync your PC folders to OneDrive. It’s also the best OneDrive PC backup solution which supports for all Windows PC operating systems such as Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP.

You can have a general look at the features of this software.

🍒 With its sync feature, you can sync files from your PC to a cloud drive, external hard drive, USB flash drive, SD card or NAS device, etc. and vice versa.
🍏 You can set up automatic sync tasks using the Schedule feature. You can choose the interval: daily, weekly, monthly, Event Triggers (paid) and USB plug-in (paid).
🍇 This software supports various cloud drives including OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, SugarSync, hubiC and Cloudme.

Learn how can OneDrive sync from PC to cloud with the help of AOMEI Backupper Standard.

1. Click the download button below to install AOMEI Backupper Standard on your computer.

2. Click Sync on the left pane and select Basic Sync.

🍵 Note: If you upgrade to AOMEI Backupper Professional, you can enjoy three other sync modes.
>> Mirror Sync: It will keep the target folder exactly the same as the source folder. If there are files exist only in the target folder, they will be deleted.
>> Real-time Sync: It will synchronize file changes with almost no delay.
>> Two-way Sync: It will sync changed files from source directory to target directory, and also vice versa.

3. Name the task to distinguish it from other sync tasks. Click Add Folder and select the folder you want to sync.

🍰 Tip: If you want to sync multiple folders at the same time, click the "+" icon after adding the first source folder.

4. Click the inverted triangle on the right edge of the second column and click Select a cloud drive.

5. Choose OneDrive and click OK.

🍰 Tip: If you can't find OneDrive in the list, then go back to step 4 and manually navigate to the OneDrive local folder by clicking the folder shape button in the second column.

6. Confirm your operation and click Start Sync to sync local folders to OneDrive.

Final Words

This article provides you with 2 ways to teach you how OneDrive sync from PC to cloud. After comparing, AOMEI Backupper Standard is more convenient. Especially if you want to sync multiple folders, you can use it to select the folders you need to backup at once.

In addition to backing up files, you can also use it to back up computer to OneDrive, including the data on the entire disk. You can use it to create a system backup to protect your system. When you encounter any problems, you can perform a System Restore to restore your computer to a normal state.