Documents Merging

[Merackon]

Hello,

Didn't really know where to place this, so if it is in the wrong place could someone move it to the correct section...sorry!

I use both Windows and Mac heavily, MacBook Pro and a very powerful Windows desktop. With the introduction of the new 1TB free storage plan for the users of Microsoft's Office365 subscription, of which I am a benefactor, I have been attempting to streamline the way that the two systems work together.

As some of you may be aware, on Windows, you are able to change the location of the Documents folder very easily, from where it is in the Users\Documents location by default. I have changed the location of my Documents library to OneDrive's location, so in effect, the two are one and the same, I no longer have a Documents directory, instead it is just OneDrive.

Is there any way to execute this on a Mac as well, to 'merge' my Documents folder into OneDrive so that I can save myself a lot of clicking and dragging?

Thanks in advance, and sorry if this is a nubby question for whatever reason, I am just trying to speed up my workflow.

Jack

 

[Weaselboy]

You could make a make a symlink from the OS X ~/Documents folder to the OneDrive folder. That way you can just leave the OS X Documents folder where it is and use it normally and all its contents will be mirrored in OneDrive.

This can be done with Terminal commands, or (much easier) just use the app MacDropAny to create the symlink for you.

One issue though, if you are syncing with OneDrive to your PC, you might want to make a separate folder in OneDrive for the Mac docs then make the symlink to that folder to avoid any conflicts.

You can see the symlink from Documents to Dropbox on my system here. The one at the bottom with that arrow actually does not contain anything, it is just a symlink that causes the contents of Documents to sync to Dropbox.

 

[Merackon]

You could make a make a symlink from the OS X ~/Documents folder to the OneDrive folder. That way you can just leave the OS X Documents folder where it is and use it normally and all its contents will be mirrored in OneDrive.

This can be done with Terminal commands, or (much easier) just use the app MacDropAny to create the symlink for you.

One issue though, if you are syncing with OneDrive to your PC, you might want to make a separate folder in OneDrive for the Mac docs then make the symlink to that folder to avoid any conflicts.

You can see the symlink from Documents to Dropbox on my system here. The one at the bottom with that arrow actually does not contain anything, it is just a symlink that causes the contents of Documents to sync to Dropbox.

Image

Thank you so much. Is all I can say.

--Though...is there any way for the contents of OneDrive to work reverse, ie Would putting a OneDrive Symlink allow for a two way effect?

 

[Weaselboy]

Thank you so much. Is all I can say.

--Though...is there any way for the contents of OneDrive to work reverse, ie Would putting a OneDrive Symlink allow for a two way effect?

If I understand what you are asking, the way we did this it will be two way. For example, with my setup if I add or delete a file to that Dropbox/Documents folder say from the dropbox.com web site, that change will push out to my Mac and the real ~/Documents folder outside of Dropbox because of the symlink. Is that what you meant.

 

[Merackon]

If I understand what you are asking, the way we did this it will be two way. For example, with my setup if I add or delete a file to that Dropbox/Documents folder say from the dropbox.com web site, that change will push out to my Mac and the real ~/Documents folder outside of Dropbox because of the symlink. Is that what you meant.

I think I understand what you mean. My intention is as follows for a usage scenario:

1. Save a document from MS Word or whatnot on my Mac's Documents folder
2. This also gets synced over to OneDrive (through the Symlink?)
3. Access the file on my desktop
4. Save file on my desktop's Documents folder (which is as I said actually OneDrive)
5. Access that file from my MacBook's Documents folder again without going into the OneDrive folder

Same principle applies for deleting, folder management etc.

Is this possible?

Thanks in advance,

Jack

 

[Weaselboy]

I think I understand what you mean. My intention is as follows for a usage scenario:

1. Save a document from MS Word or whatnot on my Mac's Documents folder
2. This also gets synced over to OneDrive (through the Symlink?)
3. Access the file on my desktop
4. Save file on my desktop's Documents folder (which is as I said actually OneDrive)
5. Access that file from my MacBook's Documents folder again without going into the OneDrive folder

Same principle applies for deleting, folder management etc.

Is this possible?

Thanks in advance,

Jack

#4 is going to be the key. If you do what I said on the Mac you will see the Mac's Documents folder within OneDrive on the PC. If you use that folder to save/store all your documents on the PC they will be synced up with the real Documents folder on the Mac. Same goes the other way.

 

[Merackon]

#4 is going to be the key. If you do what I said on the Mac you will see the Mac's Documents folder within OneDrive on the PC. If you use that folder to save/store all your documents on the PC they will be synced up with the real Documents folder on the Mac. Same goes the other way.

So deleting a folder or file on my Mac will delete it from OneDrive?

Do I need to create a second Symlink within the OneDrive directory on my Mac to my Documents folder?

Sorry to be persistent, but I really really do appreciate your help with this.

Thanks in advance,

Jack

 

[Weaselboy]

So deleting a folder or file on my Mac will delete it from OneDrive?

From the main Documents folder yes. Anything you do there add/delete/edit etc will be mirrored to the OneDrive/Documents folder everywhere. That is the beauty of a symlink.

Do I need to create a second Symlink within the OneDrive directory on my Mac to my Documents folder?

No... if you used MacDropAny to create the symlink you don't need to do anything else. It is a two way street.

Sorry to be persistent, but I really really do appreciate your help with this.

No problem. Glad to help.

 

[Merackon]

Wish there was a Reddit type system in place here for helpful people

 

[redshield3]

I created a symlink to ~/Documents in my OneDrive with

ln -s ~/Documents Documents

but I'm still not seeing that folder sync thru to OneDrive. Any ideas?

 

[Weaselboy]

I created a symlink to ~/Documents in my OneDrive with

ln -s ~/Documents Documents

but I'm still not seeing that folder sync thru to OneDrive. Any ideas?

Here is how to do it with Dropbox. You can tweak it by changing Dropbox to wherever the Onedrive folder is. It looks like you don't have the correct path to the Onedrive folder at the end there.

ln -s ~/Documents ~/Dropbox/Documents

Or... even easier. Just use the free app MacDropAny to make the symlink for you. You just use the app once to create the link then you can quit and delete the app if you want.