Computers don't last forever, so it is important that you back up your work. You may also need to back up your work when Frontline rolls out computer upgrades.  Getting in the habit of backing up your work will save you time and stress in the long run.

OneDrive is the Office 365 equivalent of Google Drive or Dropbox.  You can store all kinds of files on OneDrive, making them accessible anywhere you have an internet connection.  You can also share your files with others (staff, faculty, students, anybody), and collaborate on documents together.   Your best option is to keep your files in OneDrive. This way, your files are always backed up and you never have to worry about it.  You can also access your files anywhere, so if you have an emergency you can get to your files.

You can set OneDrive as a location in Windows Explorer. Then it will always be an available as a save location for any program. You can even set OneDrive as the default save location for Word, PPT, Excel, and other programs.  If you save your files to OneDrive, you never have to think about backups. Yay!

Verify OneDrive is installed on your computer

OneDrive should already be installed on your computer. Verify this by checking Windows Explorer for the OneDrive icon.

If OneDrive is not installed

1. download OneDrive for Business,
2. launch the downloaded file,
3. and follow the directions to install OneDrive for Business.

Sync OneDrive with Windows Explorer

Once OneDrive is on your computer, you can sync it with Windows Explorer.  This way OneDrive is available as a save location for all your computer programs. OneDrive also syncs the files on your computer and the cloud, so your files are available on your computer (if you don't have internet) and in the cloud for backup.

Create OneDrive sync folder

Before you sync OneDrive to your computer, create a dedicated Computer Sync folder in OneDrive. 

By default,  everything in OneDrive syncs to your computer.  There is much more storage space in OneDrive than on your computer. If you have a lot of files in OneDrive, you can quickly fill up your computer storage.  This will make your computer slow and cause other problems.  I highly recommend you create a dedicated folder in OneDrive to sync to your computer. You can have as many sub-folders in your sync folder as you'd like, and treat it just as you would MyDocuments. 

1. Go to Office 365 and open OneDrive,
2. Click +New and select Folder from the drop-down menu.
3. Name your folder something that is descriptive, unique, and will make sense when you're saving a file.  Perhaps:

• OneDrive Sync
• OneDriveSave
• OneDrive MyDocuments

Sync OneDrive to your computer

1. Open OneDrive on your computer by going to Start/OneDrive.
2. At the prompt, sign in with your Walden email address.
3. On the Sync files from your OneDrive screen, select the Computer Sync folder you created earlier.
4. Click Next to complete the setup.
5. Go to Windows Explorer.
6. Verify your sync folder is there.  You may need to expand OneDrive-Walden University, LLC to see it.
7. Right-click the sync folder and select Pin to Quick Access to add the folder to your Quick Access section.

To change the sync folder, right-click OneDrive-Walden University, LLC and select Choose OneDrive folders to sync.

The green checkmark  indicates OneDrive and the computer are synced.

• Microsoft OneDrive Help

• Sync files with the OneDrive sync client in Windows

It is easy to manually back your files up to OneDrive. You can back up any files or folders. If you are backing up a lot of files or large files, it may take some time.

1. Go to Office 365 and open OneDrive,
2. Click Upload and select Files or Folders from the drop-down as appropriate.
3. Browse to the file or folder you want to upload.
4. Click Open and wait for the magic to happen.

If you do not have OneDrive synced to your computer, back up your computer files and folders at least once a month.  

• Export Chrome Bookmarks
• Export Firefox Bookmarks
• Export Internet Explorer Bookmarks