A Guide to Setting Up And Using OneDrive on Mac
Microsoft OneDrive plays a major role in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Cloud storage is closely linked to all Microsoft services, including OneNote, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and more. This is why it is available on all platforms. Like Windows, it is also suitable for Mac users.
Personalize OneDrive for Mac
After installing OneDrive, you’ll notice a separate OneDrive space in the Finder menu. Go to the menu and you’ll see all the OneDrive folders and files synced to the Mac.
To personalize your OneDrive experience, tap the OneDrive icon in the menu bar and go to Help & Settings. Select Preferences from the following pop-up menu. Let’s understand the main options in the OneDrive preferences menu.
Configure OneDrive folders
You can go to Preferences> Account> Choose Folders and select the OneDrive folders you want to sync with Mac. People mostly ignore personal folders during setup and keep working OneDrive folders to sync with Mac.
At any time, you can go to the same menu in OneDrive and select or delete folders from the Mac.
Limit upload and download rate
OneDrive continues to run in the Mac background. If you haven’t turned on Files on Demand, your Mac will continue to download OneDrive files to the device. If you have limited bandwidth, the process slows down other tasks because OneDrive consumes the most available bandwidth.
To brake, you have the option to set the bandwidth limit to upload and upload the rate to OneDrive. Open the OneDrive Preferences menu and go to Network. By default, the download rate and the download rate are set to no limit. You can select the Limit to option and set the bandwidth speed.
Disable OneDrive opening when signing in
As mentioned earlier, OneDrive keeps running in the background all the time and when you start your Mac, the app automatically starts the syncing process. If you have too many apps open when the Mac starts up, you should turn off the behavior. There are two ways to turn off OneDrive when Mac starts up.
Open the OneDrive Preferences menu and go to General> Uncheck the Open on connection option.
You can also open the System Preferences menu on Mac and go to Users & Groups> Admin> Login Items and turn off the OneDrive option. From now on, OneDrive won’t automatically start syncing.
Use OneDrive files on demand
By default, all OneDrive folders remain in the cloud. You’ll notice a little cloud icon next to each OneDrive folder and file in the Finder menu. This suggests that the files are available in the cloud and not on the device.
You can right-click any file or folder and select “ Always keep on this device ” and OneDrive will download the file for you. When you are done with the media or document, you can right-click the file and select Free up space from the context menu.
Pause synchronization
OneDrive is running in the background. As soon as you make any changes to a file or folder, it is synced with the service. At any time, you pause OneDrive sync from the Preferences menu.
Just click on the OneDrive icon in the menu bar and go to Help & Settings> Pause Sync and select the time interval.
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Unlink OneDrive to Mac
At any time, you can unlink the existing OneDrive account on the Mac and sign in using a different account. To deactivate the current account, tap the OneDrive icon in the menu bar and go to Help & Settings> Preferences> Account> OneDrive> Unlink this Mac.
Use OneDrive like a pro
OneDrive is a preferred choice for Microsoft 365 subscribers. If you prefer macOS to Windows 10, set up OneDrive on Mac and start syncing all files and folders.
Last updated Jan 28, 2021
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