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OneDrive has the ability to back up the items on the desktop. If you add a file to your desktop on one computer, it will appear on the desktop of your other computers.

The best practice is to keep your Desktop clean, organized, and free of private information. In the event that your Desktop synchronizes with a new computer, your private/personal information will not be exposed to others looking at your screen if you have properly organized your data (no stray files are left on your Desktop).

Explanation of what is happening

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The “Desktop” folder in Windows is a very specific folder, just like your Documents and Pictures folders. They exist like any other folder but are given a special designation to let your computer know to treat them differently.

As an example, the Documents folder is often interacted with. Very often when opening a program to create a file, such as Word or PowerPoint, when you click on “Save”, you will be brought to your “My Documents" folder, now called “Documents” in Windows 11. This is because that folder, named “Documents” is designated by Windows as the default save location.

Another folder, named “Desktop”, has a similar designation. The Desktop folder holds all the icons, files, and folders that you see on your desktop. Even though these icons look like they’re just hanging out on your desktop, they do need an actual location to reside in; they need a file path (address) just like any other file on your computer. Windows displays the items in this folder on your desktop for easy access.

OneDrive is able to back up this desktop folder. Then, when you sign into another computer, OneDrive combines the two desktop folders. This way changes to the desktop on one computer are reflected on your second computer. OneDrive accomplishes this by creating a folder named “Desktop” within your OneDrive and places all the files on all of your desktops into that communal folder.

The best solution is to keep the desktop free of private information so you may use this synchronization feature without issue.

However, if you wish to hide the synchronized icons from the desktop on your current computer, you can do so without effecting the other computers. This can be helpful when signing into a computer that is connected to a large, public display, like a classroom computer connected to a projector.

To hide the synchronized icons on a computer, you simply need to tell Windows to stop looking at OneDrive’s Desktop folder and instead look to the local (on the computer) Desktop folder that Windows created when you first signed into this computer. The Desktop folder that was created by Windows will only have the essential icons in it.

How to start or stop the sync

  1. Once you have logged into your computer and are looking at your desktop, open File Explorer by clicking the icon, using the keyboard shortcut (Windows Key + E), or searching for it in the Start menu.

  2. In the left-hand menu, find Desktop. Right-click on it and choose Properties.

  3. In the General tab, you will see the location of your Desktop folder.

  4. Click on the Location tab.

Have this computer’s desktop show your OneDrive files

  1. Click on Move in the Location tab.

    1. It is important to move all of your current Desktop items to this new folder.

  2. In the popup window, click on OneDrive - University of Connecticut in the left-hand window.

  3. Single-click on the Desktop folder so that it is highlighted, but not opened.

    1. If you do not have a folder named “Desktop” inside of your OneDrive, click on New and then Folder. Be sure to name it “Desktop”. This is how we’re going to keep it simple, as mentioned above.

  4. With the Desktop folder highlighted, click Select Folder.

  5. When asked if you would like to “move all of the files” click Yes.

Hide your Desktop OneDrive files on this computer

  1. To re-point Windows to its default Desktop folder, follow the steps above to get to the Location tab of the Properties window of the Desktop folder.

  2. Click on Restore default.

    1. If you are asked to create a Desktop folder because it does not already exist, click Yes.

    2. If you are asked to move the existing items to the new location, click No.
      ⚠️ Clicking Yes to the “move” question will invalidate these steps because clicking Yes will copy the items into the new Desktop location and they will remain visible on your screen.

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