Export data from OneDrive

Owned by Dan Jakubiak
Last updated: Jun 19, 2024 by John Tindall
4 min read

Students, faculty, and staff may follow this guide to download, or “export”, some or all of their data out of OneDrive. Students who are leaving the university should follow this guide to save data they wish to keep.

Ensure that you have enough storage available on your computer to hold this data. If you need to change where OneDrive saves its data, such as an external hard drive, follow before following the instructions below.

Faculty and staff need to consider the regulations and policies that may apply to data when making data transfer decisions. Bulk transfer of data for which the university has responsibility under policy, law, regulation, or contractual obligation must be handled appropriately. Examples include, FERPA data, research data, business operations data, financial aid data, and personally identifiable data.

Faculty and staff should consult with their department head or supervisor regarding any data they wish to take with them upon separation.

Initiate the download process

This process uses the OneDrive App that is installed on your computer. If you do not have this synchronization app installed, follow this guide to install it:

  1. Open File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (macOS) and navigate to your OneDrive folder.

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  2. Decide on how much data you would like to download onto your computer. The steps below are the same no matter how much data you wish to download.

  3. Select the folder(s) you wish to download onto your computer. To select multiple folders hold the control key down and left click on each folder, then release the control key and right click on them.

  4. Choose Always keep on this device.

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  5. This “always keep” function is meant to aid users when traveling to a location where they anticipate a lack of internet connection.
    Choosing this option will download a copy of the files onto your computer, removing the need for an internet connection.

  6. Allow your computer some time to download these files.

If you shut down your computer, the download process will pause and continue where it left off when the computer is turned back on. You are free to power off your computer as needed.

  1. When a folder/file is done downloading, it will have a solid green checkmark instead of a cloud icon or a hollow checkmark.

    These files are now on your computer’s storage drive and ready to be uploaded into another cloud location!
    If you need to move (instead of copy) the files out of the OneDrive folder on your computer into another folder on your computer or an external storage drive, follow the instructions below.

If you are leaving the university or need to move the files to a new location

If you are leaving the university your data will soon be deleted. Follow this guide to disconnect your downloaded files from your university account.
If you need to move the files to a new location on your computer, or an external storage drive, follow these instructions.

  1. Once all files finish downloading, sign out of the OneDrive App.
    Note: the sign out process may take upwards of 15 minutes as the app cleans up your OneDrive folder, removing all files that have not had the “Always keep on this device” label applied and files that have not been opened in the last 30 days. The time needed to sign out is heavily dependent on the number of files in your account.

    1. Open the OneDrive app from the toolbar and go to the settings.

    2. Click on Account, then Unlink this PC.

  2. Wait for the sign out process to finish. When it does finish, you will receive a popup window asking you to sign in to OneDrive. Do not sign in.

  3. You may now move the files to another location on your computer or upload them into a cloud storage service.

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