Frequently Asked Question
How to migrate files using OneDrive
Last Updated 7 years ago
How to migrate files and folders using OneDrive:
PDF File with screenshots is available to the right!
Step 1: Go to http://portal.microsoftonline.com and login using your full email address and password. From there you will want to access OneDrive. You will want to click on the 9 squares in the top left corner and then click on “OneDrive” to open the OneDrive Web App.
Step 2: You will want to create a new folder in OneDrive by clicking in the top left of the OneDrive area on the “+ New” sign and selecting “New Folder”.
Then giving that new folder a name so you can recognize it has your documents from your old Mac.
Step 3: You should then open up that new folder you created, and it should be empty.
Step 4: You can now open up the folder you want to copy files from, and select and drag files directly into the OneDrive window that you want to migrate to your new computer.
Step 5: After a waiting period, depending on how large the files are and how many files you copied at once, you should then see them in the OneDrive folder you had created.
The files WILL need to upload, so if you do a large folder with pictures or video especially, it will take a long time for the files to finish uploading. We recommend leaving your Mac running overnight if you are doing a lot of files at once!
Step 6: On your new Mac, log in to the same place, http://portal.microsoftonline.com and then click on the 9 squares in the top left corner and select “OneDrive” and then browse to the folder you uploaded all your files to. You can then select your files and folders, and then at the top you should see a “Download” button that you can click. It will then download your files into a .ZIP file that you can extract from.
You should see at the bottom left corner of your browser the downloaded .zip file, click on the arrow to the right of the file and select “Show in Finder”.
Step 7: You should then see the downloaded zip file, if you double click on it, it should unzip into a folder that has your files in it.
Inside of that folder you should see all of your files and folders(it will only download folders if there are documents inside of those folders).
You can then drag those files to wherever you would like to store them on your new computer.
PDF File with screenshots is available to the right!
Step 1: Go to http://portal.microsoftonline.com and login using your full email address and password. From there you will want to access OneDrive. You will want to click on the 9 squares in the top left corner and then click on “OneDrive” to open the OneDrive Web App.
Step 2: You will want to create a new folder in OneDrive by clicking in the top left of the OneDrive area on the “+ New” sign and selecting “New Folder”.
Then giving that new folder a name so you can recognize it has your documents from your old Mac.
Step 3: You should then open up that new folder you created, and it should be empty.
Step 4: You can now open up the folder you want to copy files from, and select and drag files directly into the OneDrive window that you want to migrate to your new computer.
Step 5: After a waiting period, depending on how large the files are and how many files you copied at once, you should then see them in the OneDrive folder you had created.
The files WILL need to upload, so if you do a large folder with pictures or video especially, it will take a long time for the files to finish uploading. We recommend leaving your Mac running overnight if you are doing a lot of files at once!
Step 6: On your new Mac, log in to the same place, http://portal.microsoftonline.com and then click on the 9 squares in the top left corner and select “OneDrive” and then browse to the folder you uploaded all your files to. You can then select your files and folders, and then at the top you should see a “Download” button that you can click. It will then download your files into a .ZIP file that you can extract from.
You should see at the bottom left corner of your browser the downloaded .zip file, click on the arrow to the right of the file and select “Show in Finder”.
Step 7: You should then see the downloaded zip file, if you double click on it, it should unzip into a folder that has your files in it.
Inside of that folder you should see all of your files and folders(it will only download folders if there are documents inside of those folders).
You can then drag those files to wherever you would like to store them on your new computer.