You went looking for a file and noticed your Desktop and Documents folders are sitting inside OneDrive — and you did not put them there. That is deliberate. It is a Microsoft 365 feature called Known Folder Backup, and we turn it on so the three folders people actually use — Desktop, Documents and Pictures — are copied to the cloud automatically. If your laptop dies, is stolen or meets a cup of coffee, your files come back with you on the next computer you sign in to.

Nothing about how you work changes. You save to Desktop and Documents exactly as you always have. OneDrive quietly keeps a second copy online, usually within a minute or two of you pressing Save.

How to check it is working

1. Look at the bottom-right corner of your screen, near the clock. You should see a small cloud icon (click the up arrow first if it is hidden). A plain blue cloud means everything is syncing. A cloud with a red circle and a white cross means syncing has stopped — click it to read the message.
2. Click the cloud icon, then the gear icon (Settings), then Sync and backup, then Manage backup. Desktop, Documents and Pictures should all show as backed up.
3. Open File Explorer and look at the files in Documents. A green tick means the file is saved on this computer and in the cloud. A blue cloud outline means it is safe in the cloud and will download the moment you open it. Both are fine — Files On-Demand explained covers what each icon means.
4. If you want certainty, save a small test file to your Desktop and watch it. Within a minute or two it should pick up a tick or a cloud icon. If it sits on the circling sync arrows for hours, see OneDrive or SharePoint not syncing.

Two computers showing the same Desktop

If you sign in to more than one computer with the same work account, they will all show the same Desktop and Documents. That is not a glitch — it is the same folder, viewed from two places. Save a file at the office and it is on your laptop at home. The flip side: delete or move a file on one computer and it is deleted or moved on all of them.

What not to do

Two things look like harmless tidying and are not. Do not turn Known Folder Backup off to tidy up — your Desktop and Documents stop being backed up, and files can appear to vanish from your other devices. And do not drag the Desktop or Documents folder itself out of OneDrive to put it back where it used to live — that moves the real folder, and the same files can disappear from every other computer you use. If you want the folders arranged differently, ask us first. If something has already gone missing, see A folder has gone missing — it is almost always recoverable.

If something looks wrong

Before logging a ticket, note down: what the cloud icon near the clock shows (and the exact wording of any message when you click it), which folder or file you are worried about, and whether the problem shows on one computer or all of them. A photo of the screen taken on your phone is fine. That detail usually lets us start work without a round of questions first.

Why it is set up this way

Hard drives fail, laptops get stolen, and nobody runs manual backups in a busy week. Known Folder Backup works by redirection: the folders' real home becomes your OneDrive, and Windows simply keeps showing them in the familiar places. Because the copy happens the moment you save, the version in the cloud is always current — there is no backup day to forget.

Still stuck?

Log a ticket at portal.yougrowit.com.au or email support@yougrowit.com.au. If it is stopping you working right now, call 03 9028 4358.

Support hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm Melbourne time, excluding Victorian public holidays.

Not a client yet?

This help centre is free to read and we would rather you fixed it yourself. If it has not worked, or you would rather someone just dealt with it:

The first call is free. Tell us what’s happening and we’ll tell you what we think it is, what fixing it involves, and what it’ll cost — before anything is charged. If it turns out to be a five-minute thing, we’ll usually just sort it out on the call.

Call 03 9028 4358 or email admin@yougrowit.com.au. Melbourne small businesses, Monday to Friday 8:30am–5:30pm. We don’t do home computers.