Syncing "Documents" folder between two PCs 100% automatically

[NeilF]

A relative of mine has a desktop and laptop, both with a traditional Documents folder, currently with the same files in.

Is is possible for something (eg: OneDrive) to mirror and sync these 100% automatically, so if they amend/create/delete a document on one PC, the change is mirrored to the other?

If Onedrive can't do this is there something else?


I guess worse case I could move all their existing documents from their traditional "Documents" folder to their "OneDrive" documents folder which would achieve the goal would it not?

Any suggestions?




SOLUTION: Use OneDrive, and then the easiest way to move the files and update the location of "Documents" and indeed even "Picture" is to open "My PC", then right click on the Documents Folder (or Pictures Folder), properties, location, 'Move', move folder to one drive folder. You'll be given an option to move the existing data or not, which you can decide to do or not...

 

[NeilF]

As above, any of the cloud sync clients will do this - OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox etc.

So with OneDrive you can now declare/add a stand alone folder to include in the sync/cloudification? So I can point it to folder "BlibBlob" on both PCs and it will sync them?

Or are you saying I'll have to move all the documents on both PCs into the dedicated OneDrive folder?

 

[NeilF]

Ah, you can do that but its fiddly. Best just setting up one drive and moving the documents there via the windows thingie that moves the location of your documents folder. Once setup they wont even notice its a different location really.

So on one of the PCs manually move the contents of the document folder into Onedrive?

Then on both PCs make the default location for documents the OneDrive? eg: Do this? - https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-onedrive-your-default-save-location-windows-10

ps: Then on the second PC, clean out the now defunct/unused? legacy "Documents" folder...

 

[NeilF]

Onedrive allows you to select folders to sync.

So you recon on both PCs I could simply tell OneDrive to sync folder "BlibBlob" which in itself has nothing to do with OneDrive?

 

[NeilF]

I don't recon, I know. Why don't you install it and try it and use it and tell us if this is what it does?

No, OneDrive needs to know about the folder before you can selectively sync.

As far as i can see on mine, OneDrive will only know about the files/folders that are located within the OneDrive folder.

Well, we seem to have contradictory suggestions...

I'll try it on both machines and see where I get too.

The oddity about simply including a folder nothing to do with OneDrive (eg: "Blibblob") to sync, hits me as odd, as you'd define it on OneDrive on PC X, but then what would OneDrive on PC Y make of that definition? Would you have to map where it's "BlibBlob" folder is?

Pending anymore information, I guess I'll have to play

 

[NeilF]

OP as you seem to be new to these, it's worth noting that these are sync clients and are not external cloud storage. (They can be used as external cloud storage, but require manually uploading your files). Being a sync client means that if you delete files from one machine, these changes will get synced to your second machine.

I might be wrong here but I think drop-box is the only one i'm aware of (at least for free) that provides some file versioning. I.e. you'd be able to recover the files from the Dropbox site, but these are normally limited to # number of versions, and likely a time window as well.

Tell me if I'm wrong here... So on PC X and Y, there is a OneDrive running under Microsoft User Z. One both machines, if you amend, create or delete a document (within its OneDrive), that change will be sync'd across to the other PC?

So if I create a document on PC X, that document will appear on PC Y. If I amend a document on PC Y, that change will appear on PC X? etc?

If this is not the outcome, then I'm barking up the wrong tree with this solution then...

 

[NeilF]

From my One drive:

Understood, but....? If on PC X I choose folder "BlibBlob" (which is not within "OneDrive" itself), what happens on PC Y? How does its OneDrive know where its "BlibBlob" folder is to keep in sync with PC X?

 

[NeilF]

I think mrbell has gone on the assumption that your folder "BlibBlob" already exists within the OneDrive folder.

Follow the setup steps that Chroniclard has posted up.

You'd put your folder "BlibBlob" inside C:/users/NeilFawcett/OneDrive/BlibBlob, and then when you set it up on your second machine, it'll sync to the same location C:/users/FawcettNeil/OneDrive/BlibBlob

Yeh, it's sound more and more like the safest option is to:-
1) On one PC, move all existing documents from the traditional old "Document" folder into "OneDrive".
2) On both PCs, make that OneDrive documents folder the default document location - https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-onedrive-your-default-save-location-windows-10
3) The documents on both PCs should now be identical (after some sync'ing time), and be kept identical/sync'd.

So I amend a document on PC X, the change will automatically appear on PC Y. If I create a document on PC Y, the document will appear on PC X. (Obviously with transfer times...)

No your understanding is correct.

Good! Thanks!

 

[NeilF]

Yes

Once setup you'll laugh at how un-complex the whole thing is

Thanks... The last think I want is more hassle and wasted time after spending 3-4hrs (including 2hrs with MS staff) trying to get Office 365 installed and running on one of the PCs in question... Grrr

 

[NeilF]

why are you complicating things? Just select a folder on both PC's and it will sync over no problems.

-- > Select folder on computer A > It will sync to computer B
-- > Select folder on computer B > It will sync to computer A

It's really as simple as that. Just make sure it's logged in with the same account.

Hmmm... Not sure if that will achieve what I'm after?

We're talking about a stand alone traditional "Documents" folder sitting there on PC A and PC B, that I want to keep automatically 100% in sync.

You're suggesting I go into OneDrive on PC A and tell it to included "Documents" (which is not in the OneDrive folder).... and then I go onto PC B and into its OneDrive and I'll see what? That I can point the "Documents" folder selected on A to the "Documents" folder on PC B so as to keep them sync'd up? If you can do that, lovely... But as a couple of other folks have suggested it sounds like you can't?

I'll try it tomorrow if I can...

 

[NeilF]

Really over complicating this.

Not sure I am TBH!

I don't think (from what people have said) it's possible to simply get OneDrive to seemlessly sync up a folder across two PCs which has nothing to do with OneDrive?

So the outcome is (given we're talking about a "Documents" folder) is with the two machines in question, to move the documents into OneDrive's dedicated "Documents" folder... And apart from then making OneDrive's documents folder the the default location... Done...

So you are talking about 'merging' + 'Syncing' a single folder on 'Computer A' and 'Computer B' then? I get you now!

Yes... The person in question has a desktop PC... and now also has a new laptop. I want to make it so their documents are seemlessly sync'd across those two machines. So a new/amended/deleted document on one, magically also happens on the other.

Currently both PCs have a stand alone "Documents" folder. I want to sync this folder across the two machines so changes on one PC seemlessly sync over to the other.

It's sounding like the best (only?) way to do this is to simply move the documents into OneDrive's Documents folder, change both PCs default document folder to be that OneDrive folder, and done...

 

[NeilF]

Right I set up 2 machines with OneDrive, it appears you can't do it as when you select a new folder it just puts 'OneDrive' as a new location inside that folder. It appears that you MUST create a folder which is always called 'OneDrive' then everything syncs inside it.

You could just take the files from 'Computer A' and 'Computer B' - Merge them into one then copy it into the new 'OneDrive' folder and it will always sync to 'Computer B' which has already been suggested.

Yes, this is what I've understood from people's comments.

eg:Currently we have two PCs with two standalone local "Documents" folders, each with a copy of the same documents currently (as they've just been copied across yesterday)...

PC X
.../Documents [...hundreds of documents and folders...]

PC Y
.../Documents [...hundreds of documents and folders (same as PC X currently)...]

So put/enable OneDrive on both PCs, and copy/transfer those "hundreds of documents and folders" to the OneDrive document folder:-

PC X
.../Documents [No longer used]
.../OneDrive
.../OneDrive/Documents [...hundreds of documents and folders...]

PC Y
.../Documents [No longer used]
.../OneDrive
.../OneDrive/Documents [...hundreds of documents and folders...]


Done! Apart from making the OneDrive documents folder the default documents location on both machines - https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-onedrive-your-default-save-location-windows-10

Apart from ensuring both machines all "My Documents" shortcuts etc now point to the OneDrive documents, suspect it should be straight forwards etc...

 

[NeilF]

It looks like things have moved about in the latest version, there is now a tab called 'Backup'.

It looks like if you select 'manage backup' you can now sync the 'documents' folder correctly. This has now appeared under 'choose folders' and it's now sync'd across both devices.

I think this is what you are trying to achieve.

This is now what my 'documents' folder looks like on both PC's in test.

Thanks for that! So you're doing exactly what I wish to do. Simply keep automatically 100% in sync the "documents" folder on two PCs...

And to clarify, the "This PC > Documents" folder on your two machines, are stand alone folders (eg: "C:\Users\Bob\Documents"), or are they "Documents" folders in/under the OneDrive folder?

Is your "Test Document" in a "One Drive>Documents" folder? Or some sort of "C:\Users\Bob\Documents" folder?

Because it seems most people are suggesting the latter is what is required.

 

[NeilF]

Just tested this as well for you and it's under 'C:\Users\localuser\Documents'. It looks like this new feature is called 'backup'. Onedrive is for the 'onedrive' folder and 'backup' is where you select custom folders.

I got a conflict and what it's done is added -copy on the end of every file that was duplicate on 'Computer B' ! Which is perfect as what you could do is search for all files with -copy in it and delete or move them to a new folder.

Ahh... Well, that's not perfect for what I want.

Quite simply if a document say called "A Document.doc" is amended on PC A, I want that changed version to seemlessly appear on PC B in its documents folder. So PC A and B are in effect working (amending/creating/deleting) exactly the same documents, all sync'd by OneDrive.

It sounds like the "Backup" feature you mentioned where you simply point to an arbitrary folder for OneDrive to "backup" won't achieve this. But I assume the "OneDrive>Documents" approach will!

Hence we're seemingly back to:-
1) On one PC, move all existing documents from the traditional old "Document" folder into "OneDrive>Documents".
2) On both PCs, make that OneDrive documents folder the default document location - https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-onedrive-your-default-save-location-windows-10
3) The documents on both PCs should now be identical (after some sync'ing time), and be kept identical/sync'd.


ps: Thanks for clarifying that the "backup" option is not suitable!

 

[NeilF]

Yeh well you would just delete the files with -copy as this is a duplicate. It won't put duplicate files in the same folder if there isn't any.

It's working from what I can tell with the 'backup' option. It's merged my files into one simply because there are discrepancies on both of my machines. Once it's merged once that's a job well done. They both stop in sync.

Sorry, you've seemed to contradict yourself there? Or I'm misunderstanding it?

Ultimately, if the "Backup" option does not seemlessly copy/keep in sync documents between two machines (without creating "-copy" versions) then it's not suitable for my needs.

I believe using the "OneDrive>Documents" folder method, would mean a total seemless/magical syncing of the documents across two (or more) PCs. So any change done to documents on one PC, would seemlessly appear on the other(s)!? As if by magic!

 

[NeilF]

It creates a copy on first sync if it detects and documents that are the same on both machines, you simply delete the ones that have the same name on first sync. This will only be the first time that both systems synchronize though. You don't want a copy of two files the same do you?

After this anything put in C:\Users\[User]\Documents will be synced perfectly fine.

Oooooooooh! So that's perfect then! No moving of documents or changing of default document locations?!!?

So question... Let's assume on the two PCs in question their current document folders are as follows:-
- C:\Users\Bob\Documents\
- C:\Users\Bobby\Documents\

How does OneDrive on the two PCs know the folders to keep in sync are "C:\Users\Bob\Documents\" <--> "C:\Users\Bobby\Documents\"

And if you log into OneDrive (say of over the web interface, or in over an IPad) under what folder name/structure is it stored under?

 

[NeilF]

Setup onedrive on both then set your documents location on both PCs to the onedrive folder/documents.
Example:
C:\Users\%username%\OneDrive\Documents

Agreed! That was the route I was going down until mrbell1984 implied no movement of the existing document folder(s) were even necessary. You could simply "backup" between the existing document folders and they'd be perfectly sync'd.

I may still do the OneDrive\Documents route though because it just feels safer! But I'm concerned about the hassle/issues of ensure the PCs in question then treat the "OneDrive>Documents" folder as the default location for documents, through all apps and shortcuts/links.

 

[NeilF]

So, did this yesterday...

Indeed, the tricky thing is ensure shortcuts offered by Windows point to the OneDrive locations, not the old local folders. ie: Where "Documents" is offered as a shortcut, it goes to the "OneDrive/Documents" not the local documents folder.

A handy tip - If you open "My PC" and there it shows links to say "My Documents" and "My Pictures" (& "My Music" etc), if you right click them you can define their "location". So you can change them from your local location to instead point to the OneDrive location. You'll get an option to also move existing data or not from the local to OneDrive folder. This at least changes these shortcuts to point to the "OneDrive" location correctly.

 

[NeilF]

What, exactly like my instructions?

Arrrrrrggghhhh - #12 = "Go to documents folder, right click, properties, location, 'Move', move folder to one drive folder."

I didn't clock that!

You know when I was doing this yesterday, and hitting the issue with the various shortcuts going to the old local location, and not the OneDrive one in stead, I even contacted Microsoft to see if they could suggest something. They couldn't.

It was only by pure chance I stumbled across that "right click, properties, location, 'Move', move folder to one drive folder." which I then did for Documents and Pictures...

Damn! If only I'd spotted cottoned onto the significance of your comment then! Doh!


Hopefully someone else doing this in the future will use that method. Indeed I'll even update the OP!

 

[NeilF]

At least you got it sorted.

Hopefully...

But in some tests, amending a document on one PC, the change would appear on the other within a couple of seconds... Lovely...