what to know

• You can uninstall OneDrive from the Windows 11 Applications menu.
• Alternatively, you can force OneDrive to stop working, or stop it temporarily.

This article will walk you through how to stop, disable, and uninstall Microsoft OneDrive.

How to stop onedrive

If you want OneDrive to stop backing up your files and folders right now, stopping it is the fastest way to do so.

1. On the desktop, select the little arrow next to Date & Time in the bottom-right corner. Select OneDrive.

   

2. Now, in the OneDrive window, select the Settings Cog icon in the top-right corner. choose stop sync.

   

3. In the drop-down menu, select the duration of the break you want. You can choose between two, eight or 24 hours.

   

How to Turn OneDrive Off

You can turn off OneDrive to prevent any activity from taking place while your machine is on. To get it running again, you can start the app, or reboot your system.

1. Select the OneDrive cloud icon in the bottom-right (if you don’t see it on the taskbar, you may have to select the little arrow next to the date and time first).

2. Select the Settings menu.

   

3. Select Quit OneDrive. A warning message will pop up asking if you are sure. Select Shutdown OneDrive to confirm.

   

How to Uninstall OneDrive

Uninstalling OneDrive is the most permanent solution to stop your files from being backed up. On some versions of Windows, you’ll only be able to disable the application, but this will result in the same result: OneDrive will no longer work.

1. Press the Windows key, or select the magnifying glass search icon and type program. Select Add or Remove Programs from the search results.

   

2. In this list of installed apps, use the search bar to look for OneDrive, or alternatively, scroll down the list until you find Microsoft OneDrive.

   

3. Select the three-dot menu icon on the right, then choose Uninstall. It will ask for confirmation saying “This app and its related information will be uninstalled”. Select Uninstall again to confirm.

   

   Alternatively, if your version of Windows doesn’t allow you to uninstall the OneDrive app, you can select Disable instead. This will shut down OneDrive completely, and prevent it from starting up again in the future unless you enable it again.WC .

If you’ve disabled, stopped, or uninstalled OneDrive, you might want to consider one of these alternative cloud storage and cloud backup services.