Windows 8 OneDrive Backup: Set up automatic real-time file backup in the cloud

Windows 8 OneDrive backup in the step-by-step guide: Anyone who works with documents on a daily basis knows that there is hardly anything worse than having to edit a text or another document from scratch again because the associated file has disappeared for whatever reason. Conventional backups are usually no help in such cases, even if they are created once a day. Real-time backups in the cloud ensure the greatest possible security. There are various options for this.

Windows 8 OneDrive Backup 1: Back up the Documents folder in OneDrive

Although not every folder in Explorer can be synchronized with OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), the desktop and the folders including the subfolders in your libraries can. This results in some interesting application possibilities for Windows 8 OneDrive backups.

With a simple trick, you can use OneDrive, for example, to have all the files in your "Documents" folder available everywhere at all times. Another pleasant side effect: you automatically create a backup copy of all your documents in your online storage in real time as soon as you save them. This means that important documents are not lost even if your hard disk fails.

This is how it works:

1. If you have not already done so, install "OneDrive for Windows" (https://onedrive.live.com/about/de-de/#apps).
2. Then create a new folder in your OneDrive folder with the name "Documents". Then click on the Explorer (Windows + E) with the right mouse button on the Documents folder (not the library) in your user profile and select the Properties" context menu. Then click on the "Path" tab and "Move". Now select the previously created documents folder under OneDrive and click on "OK".
3. Confirm the message that all files will be moved to the new location by clicking on "Yes". The current files are immediately uploaded to OneDrive.

Tip: You can also synchronize your picture, music and video libraries with OneDrive in the same way.

Windows 8 OneDrive backups 2: Automatically back up Word and Excel files to the cloud

No one is safe from a hard disk crash! Therefore, save your important documents in a second location - experts call this redundancy. You don't always have to save them twice yourself, this is done by "Auto-backup for Word" - which is nothing other than a Windows 8 OneDrive backup. Each time you save, the extension automatically saves a copy of the current document to another location, such as an external hard disk and your cloud storage.

This is how it works:

1. After installing the software, click on "Smarttools" and "Options".
2. Click on "Folder" and
3. select the folder in which the backup is to be saved. This can be in the Dropbox in the OneDrive folder or another cloud service that you have linked to your system.
4. Finally, click on "Close".

Tip: The same function for Excel documents is offered by the "Add-in for Excel".

Photo: Microsoft Deutschland GmbH