stop references to onedrive for Ecel and Word documents

Question

stop references to onedrive for Ecel and Word documents

RM Gajjala 0

Don't want to use onedrive. So Microsoft stop sending "Back up this document" messages for my Excel and Word documents.

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

TaoLi 115.4K Independent Advisor

Since you don’t want to use OneDrive, try closing it completely. Make sure any files you need are saved locally first.

Right-click the OneDrive cloud icon >> Pause syncing >> Quit OneDrive. Then open Windows Settings >> Apps >> Startup >> turn Microsoft OneDrive off, and reopen Word and Excel to check whether the prompt stops.

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Answer 2

Set Word and Excel to save to a local folder by default, then turn off OneDrive’s Documents-folder backup if it is enabled.

1. Make local storage the default in Word

Open Word.
Select File → Options → Save.
Enable Save to Computer by default if that option appears.
In Default local file location, enter or browse to a folder outside OneDrive, for example: C:\Users\<your-Windows-name>\Documents
Select OK.

Microsoft documents the same File → Options → Save → Default local file location setting.^1^

2. Repeat in Excel

Open Excel → File → Options → Save, enable Save to Computer by default, and set Default local file location to a folder outside OneDrive.

The setting is application-specific, so changing it in Word does not automatically change Excel.^1^

You can also choose a local folder in the Save window, right-click it, and select Set As Default Location.^2^

3. If Documents is still inside OneDrive

If the displayed path contains \OneDrive\Documents, Windows folder backup is likely still directing Documents into OneDrive. To stop it:

Select the OneDrive cloud icon near the Windows clock.
Select Help & Settings → Settings.
Open Sync and backup → Manage backup.
Turn off backup for Documents.
When prompted, choose Keep the files only on my PC.

If OneDrive reports cloud-only files that cannot be moved, first mark/download them as Always keep on this device, and then stop backup.^3^

Check that the files are present in your local Documents folder before deleting anything from OneDrive.

4. Turn off cloud AutoSave prompts without disabling crash recovery

In both Word and Excel:

Go to File → Options → Save.
Clear AutoSave OneDrive and SharePoint Online files by default on Word/Excel.
Restart each application.

Repeat this separately in Word and Excel. Turning off cloud AutoSave does not disable AutoRecover, which can still recover work after a crash.^4^

Do not clear Save AutoRecover information every … minutes merely to suppress OneDrive messages; that is a separate crash-recovery feature.

5. If you do not want OneDrive at all

Disconnect it from the PC:

Select the OneDrive cloud icon.
Select Help & Settings → Settings → Account.
Select Unlink this PC → Unlink account.^5^

To remove the application afterward, open Windows Settings → Apps, find Microsoft OneDrive, select the three-dot menu, and choose Uninstall.^6^

Unlinking or uninstalling does not delete the cloud copies, but files that exist only online should be downloaded before disconnecting if local copies are required.

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