Windows 10: OneDrive Not Synching Files on Hard Drive to the Cloud

I have Windows 10 Home Edition and Microsoft 365, I am trying to use OneDrive to store my folders and files online and automatically back them up as I modify the copy of the file stored on my hard drive.I have uploaded them to the cloud successfully, but when I modify the files on my hard drive the online copy in the cloud does not automatically synch to the updated version on my hard drive.Am I correct in thinking that it should? And if I am correct, how do I enable automatic synching of the new version of a file on my hard drive with the online version?The folders I wish to synch are not

:)

 

Can I simulate OneDrive with an external-hard drive instead of the Cloud?

Using OneDrive, I can

• Select a folder to sync to the Cloud
  
• Optionally, set all files to exist only on the Cloud
  
• Free up space on my computer (C
  

Using a symbolic link I can

• Make an imaginary folder on my computer which actually resides on an external hard drive
  
• Add files to it - these are actually saved in the external drive but appear to exist on my computer
  
• Free up space on my computer
  

Pretty similar right? The end effect of both processes is to take files on my computer and store them elsewhere (cloud and external drive respectively), whilst still making them appear (to explorer at least) to reside somewhere on my C drive.

The difference is this; OneDrive leaves a skeleton of the folder's contents (placeholder files and sub-directories) on the computer. Crucially, this means you can add files to the folder even without internet connection (connection to the Cloud storage).

With a symbolic directory, if my hard drive is unplugged, there's nothing I can do to edit the folder structure - there are no placeholder files and sub-directories saved on my C drive. This means I can't use the folder unless my hard-drive is plugged in.

Is there any structure/ utility available in Windows which would allow an external hard-drive to be used in place of cloud storage?

A workaround is to keep some sort of clone of the files on my computer - and a script that detects whether the drive is plugged in and redirects the sym-link to the "offline" clone when it's not. But I feel that there's a lot more nuance to consider, and it would be re-inventing the wheel.

+I'm not sure what to use as placeholder files (more symlinks?) - placeholder directories would just be standard folders because they take up barely any space anyway.

 

Can't stop large Outlook 2016 files from synching with OneDrive

OK I solved my own problem.
First I moved the files out of the OneDrive folder, deleted the folder, and they disappeared from the synch although the folder was still in the Cloud. So I deleted the Cloud folder too. I then created the folder again in OneDrive and put the folders back in there but selected not to Synch it. That failed as it showed an error about two folders the same and synching also started again.
So, I moved the folder and outlook files permanently out of the OneDrive folder and that's sorted it.
OneDrive seems so inflexible and isn't user friendly if you ask me!
w

 

OneDrive Cloud Backup and hard drive storage

Sarah thanks for your answer. Really helpful!

One thing you said-

"I personally work out of my Onedrive at all times and because of that I don't have any files on my C drive, just the files that are being synced from Onedrive. "

Isn't the Onedrive folder in my C drive and the cloud? I understood they update each other both ways; up from the C drive files and down from the cloud.