OneDrive is a cloud-based service part of the Microsoft suite of products. Its purpose is to help save and sync certain folders to their cloud, allowing you to access them across multiple devices. Windows 11 computers will automatically install and start syncing OneDrive with the computer’s basic set up. Depending on where you save Artisan® and Historian™ content, OneDrive could impact how that content is saved and accessed.
If you are reading this article in preparation for transferring software from one computer to another, we highly suggest utilizing the following articles first to ensure you have all the necessary content saved from the old computer: Moving Artisan® 6 to a New Computer, as well as Moving Historian™ to a New Computer
In File Explorer, OneDrive is typically listed at the top of your folders panel on the left, denoted by the cloud icon. OneDrive works by syncing your files, so they are available to access in the cloud on any of your devices when signed in to your OneDrive account.
However, we have found that OneDrive consistently interferes with the Artisan and Historian experience, since the content is in the cloud and therefore harder to access with the limited permissions available to us. We recognize that some people use OneDrive for their personal documents, and we are not advocating against that. The purpose of this article is to address the FOREVER® desktop software specifically, and how to change your computer set up so your FOREVER-associated content is not automatically saved in OneDrive.
IMPORTANT: Should you wish to continue using OneDrive for non-FOREVER related material, an alternative we suggest is moving Artisan files (projects and art kits) and Historian (cabinet/vault) files to an external hard drive. This way OneDrive can stay on the computer but not interact with important FOREVER files.
Setting up a New Computer
1. Open OneDrive settings by clicking on the cloud icon in the notification area. This is typically in the bottom right corner of your screen.
2. Select the Help & Settings icon (the gear) and then click Settings.
3. Go to the Sync and Backup tab.
4. In the box with “Back up important PC folders to OneDrive”, click on Manage Backup.
5. The folders listed here are the ones that may be set to automatically back up to OneDrive (you may have others shown here as well).
6. Since Artisan projects and Personal Art Kits default to saving in your Documents folder, you will want to make sure that the Documents folder is toggled OFF. If you save projects to your Desktop, ensure the Desktop folder is OFF too.
7. When you stop backing up a folder, you will see a dialog box with two options:
- Continue backup – If the folder you wish to stop backing up contains cloud only files, you will see a message saying your files will remain in your OneDrive. Even though Microsoft recommends this, FOREVER does not when it comes to content used with our desktop programs.
- Stop backup - This is the setting FOREVER recommends for the Artisan and Historian programs. When you stop backing up a folder, you can move files from OneDrive to your computer manually by opening the shortcut to OneDrive, selecting the file, and then cutting and pasting it to a location (outside of OneDrive) on your computer. Once this is stopped, any new files you add to your computer's folder will not back up to OneDrive.
8. Now that the Documents (and potentially Desktop) folder is no longer being backed up to OneDrive, you can safely add your Artisan and/or Historian files to these applicable areas and continue to use our software as normal.
Adjusting After Files are Saved To OneDrive
If you complete these steps after the initial set up of your computer, it is likely some of your files have already synced to OneDrive. This means that you will need to find them in OneDrive to copy and paste the applicable files to the location you prefer.
- Artisan Projects will default to save in C://Users/yourusername*/Documents/Artisan Projects (if it is saved to OneDrive, that path will look similar but will have OneDrive in after your username, C://Users/yourusername*/OneDrive/Documents/Artisan Projects). You may need to create a new Artisan Projects folder if one does not exist outside of OneDrive.
*This is your personal username associated with the computer you are using. - Personal Art Kits also default to the Documents folder: C://Users/yourusername*/Documents/Personal Art Kits (this can run into the same issues as Artisan Projects if it too is saved to OneDrive, meaning it would default to the similar path of C://Users/yourusername*/OneDrive/Documents/Personal Art Kits). You may need to create a new Personal Art Kits folder if one does not exist outside of OneDrive.
*This is your personal username associated with the computer you are using. - Historian Vault/Cabinet will have one default option to the Public folder (this is the most common) and the other default option to your personal Documents folder. In addition to those, you can also choose almost anywhere else on the computer or external drive to save it to as long as OneDrive is not part of the save location.
- You may have set other content within Artisan and Historian to save to your Documents folder as well, so make sure you move everything relating to Artisan and Historian outside of OneDrive.
IMPORTANT: Please note that moving content from OneDrive does not guarantee that your Artisan Project or Vault/Cabinet has not already been impacted. You may find issues even after you've moved them (please see OneDrive's Impact on Artisan and Historian below), however, this will help prevent future related content errors.
Unlinking or Uninstalling OneDrive
If you do not want to use Microsoft's cloud-based service, there is a way to change the computer's settings to keep it from auto-syncing. Content already synced to OneDrive should be moved to a location outside of OneDrive so it is saved prior to unlinking or uninstalling - this location can be on the hard drive/internal drive of your computer, or it can be saved separately on an external hard drive.
Unlinking OneDrive will disconnect your local folders from OneDrive, while Uninstalling OneDrive removes the app from your computer. Both options still allow access to your files by navigating to the Microsoft OneDrive website; however, because OneDrive cannot natively save content from our desktop software, any synced Artisan and Historian content may already be corrupted or inaccessible (please see OneDrive's Impact on Artisan and Historian below).
For more information on how to make any of these changes, please follow the steps outlined by Microsoft Support: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/turn-off-disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0
You may have unlinked your PC or uninstalled OneDrive not realizing that there were files already saved there. In order to move those and update Settings, OneDrive needs to be installed on your computer and you need to be logged in to your Microsoft account. When OneDrive is installed on your computer once again, it will immediately start resyncing all of your data. After you've accessed the files needed, you can repeat the steps for Unlinking or Uninstalling. For more information, please visit Microsoft's support page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/unlink-and-re-link-onedrive-3c4680bf-cc36-4204-9ca5-e7b24cdd23ea
Once your computer's OneDrive Settings are updated, you will want to watch when opening existing content and creating any new content to ensure the path for it does not include OneDrive.
OneDrive's Impact on Artisan and Historian
For some, you may have already experienced difficulties accessing a project or cabinet information as a result of OneDrive. Here are a few of the issues we have seen when content is saved in OneDrive:
- Photos and embedded images already added to an Artisan Project may show as gray boxes when viewing an individual page in Artisan. It may look fine in the Page panel (to the right of the project) but will show as gray when the page is opened in the workspace.
- A Vault/Cabinet may no longer open properly in Historian because one or more critical components are no longer accessible.
- Images and other content may become corrupt, causing an Artisan Project or Vault/Cabinet to be unusable.
If you have experienced any of these issues and would like assistance in better managing your Artisan and Historian content, please contact FOREVER Client Care at support@forever.com or 1-888-FOREVER (367-3837).