How to access OneDrive settings

OneDrive desktop app

1. To access your OneDrive settings, click or tap the OneDrive icon in the taskbar or notification area. 

   Tips: 

   • If you don't see the OneDrive icon, OneDrive might not be running. On a PC, go to Start, type OneDrive in the search box, and then click OneDrive in the search results. You might need to click the Show hidden icons arrow  next to the notification area to see the OneDrive icons. On a Mac, use Spotlight to search for OneDrive and open it.

   • If you have both OneDrive and OneDrive for work or school set up on your computer, the settings are accessed in the same way, but are unique to each account.

   • If you still don't see a OneDrive icon, check Which OneDrive app do I have?

2. Select  then Settings from the menu.

The starting screen shows the amount of storage usage and includes a link to Manage storage.

Sync and back up

• Back up important PC folders to OneDrive. Your PC's Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders may not be automatically part of your OneDrive. Select Manage back up to start the selection process.

• OneDrive personal users can also include Photos and videos and Screenshots folders to your OneDrive collection.

• Preferences allows you to choose how OneDrive behaves at start up, when your device is in battery saver mode, or when you're connected to a metered network (hotspot).

• Advanced settings includes:

  • File collaboration which controls the sync direction of your files and enables you to work on files with other people at the same time. To ensure AutoSave works best, keep this turned on.

  • The Upload and Download rates can be adjusted if you want to apply a "speed limit". Business customers may have a limit imposed by your IT Admin.

  • Files on Demand allows you to save space on your computer. Learn more about how to get the most out of Files on Demand for Windows 10 and Mac 10.14 or newer.

Account

• You can Unlink or Add another account but note that you can only have one personal account active on each computer.

• Select Choose folders to be choose which of your OneDrive folders sync to your computer. For example, this allows you to have your entire holiday photos online, but only show and sync the last year's collection to your computer. Learn more about Choose folders.

• Change your Personal Vault auto-lock time.

Notifications

• You can turn on or turn off Notifications for some events.

About

• OneDrive info includes your device ID and version number. No personal information is shown here. Quoting your unique OneDrive Device ID when contacting support helps support agents help you more efficiently. Clicking the version number will show you the OneDrive release notes.

• OneDrive Insider programme offers you a chance to get pre-release versions of OneDrive.

Other options in Help & Settings

• To Pause OneDrive select  then select Pause syncing and select the time duration you want to pause syncing, or Resume syncing. For more information, refer to How to Pause and Resume sync in OneDrive.

• To Close OneDrive select  then select Close OneDrive. You can still see your files and folders online at www.onedrive.com.

OneDrive sync app

1. Click the OneDrive cloud icon up in your Menu bar, click the three dots  to open the menu, and select Preferences.

   Tips: 

   • If you don't see the OneDrive icon, OneDrive might not be running.  On a Mac, use Spotlight to search for OneDrive and open it.

   • If you have both OneDrive and OneDrive for work or school set up on your computer, the settings are accessed in the same way, but are unique to each account.

Preferences

• General settings control how the OneDrive app behaves, including what happens when you sign in.

• You can turn on or turn off Notifications for some events.

• Turn Files on Demand on or off to save space on your computer. All files are visible, but you need to be online to open them. Learn more about how to get the most out of Files on Demand for Mac 10.14 or newer.

Account

• The account tab shows how much storage each account has been used, and offers a link to Manage your Cloud storage.

• You can Unlink or Add another account but note that you can only have one personal account active on each computer.

• Select Choose folders to be choose which of your OneDrive folders sync to your computer. For example, this allows you to have your entire holiday photos online, but only show and sync the last year's collection to your computer. Learn more about Choose folders.

• Change your Personal Vault auto-lock time.

Backup

• Manage backup lets you include Important PC Folders to your OneDrive collection. Your computer's Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders may not be automatically part of your OneDrive.

• OneDrive personal users can also include Photos and videos and Screenshots folders to your OneDrive collection.

Network

• The Upload and Download rates can be adjusted if you want to apply a "speed limit". Business customers may have a limit imposed by your IT Admin.

Office

• File collaboration controls the sync direction of your files and enables you to work on files with other people at the same time. To ensure AutoSave works best, keep this turned on.

About

• More info has links to all the OneDrive support pages. 

• About offers you a chance to get pre-release versions of OneDrive. Clicking the version number will show you the OneDrive release notes.

• Quoting your unique OneDrive Device ID when contacting support helps support agents help you more efficiently.

Other options in Help & Settings

• To Pause OneDrive select  then select Pause syncing and select the time duration you want to pause syncing, or Resume syncing. For more information, refer to How to Pause and Resume sync in OneDrive.

• To Close OneDrive select  then select Close OneDrive. You can still see your files and folders online at www.onedrive.com.

OneDrive mobile apps

To open the OneDrive mobile app settings:

1. Tap your profile picture or the icon.​​​​​​​

2. Tap Settings and choose from:

   • Accounts (you can only have one Personal account active).

   • Options includes turning camera roll on or off, notification settings, device security, and Personal Vault settings.

   • About has links to more support articles.

OneDrive website

Sign in to see your OneDrive web settings:

• Manage storage shows how much storage you've used, and what plans and bonuses you may have.

• Plans and upgrades shows a summary of your existing storage plan or subscription.

• Office File formats selects the default file format for Office documents you create.

• Personal Vault is where you manage how you sign in to your Personal Vault. Once signed in, you can add or remove ways to get security codes.

• Photos offers a toggle for automatically creating albums from photos you upload to the web. This is not the same as albums from your mobile camera roll.

• Tagging allows OneDrive to automatically tag your photos by theme.

• Notifications allows you get an email when People make changes to files you're sharing or when OneDrive recaps your photos.

• Device backups shows a list of devices that are backing up settings to OneDrive.

• Restore your OneDrive. Perfect for recovering from accidentally deleted files or a malware attack, you can restore your OneDrive to a previous time. Select a date pre-set or use the slider to find a date with unusual activity in the chart. Then select the changes that you want to undo.

• Search allows you to show previous searches as suggested search terms.

OneDrive Store app

1. Click or tap More ... to access more options.

2. Select Settings from the menu which appears. Options available are:

   • Get more storage.

   • Reset the app.

   • Dark mode on/off.