Cannot find the backed up file in OneDrive?

What is the problem you are having with rclone?

I have followed the instructions at Microsoft OneDrive and created a config for my OneDrive and it all appears to go OK.
I then tried to copy a couple of test files to OneDrive using the command:

rclone copy test.txt OneDrive:/Documents/Zoom/test.txt
and
rclone copy test.txt OneDrive:/Documents/Zoom/testing.txt

and when I do

it shows me the two files
C:\Tools\rclone>rclone lsd OneDrive:/Documents/Zoom
          -1 2025-03-23 10:55:28         1 test.txt
          -1 2025-03-23 11:39:59         1 testing.txt

However, when I then navigate to the OneDrive website on the internet click through to the Documents/Zoom folder - I don't see any files.

I only have the one OneDrive Account - and that is the same one I was logged into when I did the config step to get the secret / client ID etc.

Run the command 'rclone version' and share the full output of the command.

rclone v1.69.1

  • os/version: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 24H2 24H2 (64 bit)
  • os/kernel: 10.0.26100.3476 (x86_64)
  • os/type: windows
  • os/arch: amd64
  • go/version: go1.24.0
  • go/linking: static
  • go/tags: cmount

Which cloud storage system are you using? (eg Google Drive)

OneDrive

The command you were trying to run (eg rclone copy /tmp remote:tmp)

rclone copy test.txt OneDrive:/Documents/Zoom/test.txt
rclone copy test.txt OneDrive:/Documents/Zoom/testing.txt

Please run 'rclone config redacted' and share the full output.

[OneDrive]
type = onedrive
client_id = XXX
client_secret = XXX
tenant = XXX
token = XXX
drive_id = XXX
drive_type = business

Not sure why the above says business? I have Office365 and my username/email is a personal one i.e. first.last@outlook.com

A log from the command that you were trying to run with the -vv flag

C:\Tools\rclone>rclone -vv copy test.txt OneDrive:/Documents/Zoom/testing2.txt
2025/03/23 11:49:46 DEBUG : rclone: Version "v1.69.1" starting with parameters ["rclone" "-vv" "copy" "test.txt" "OneDrive:/Documents/Zoom/testing2.txt"]
2025/03/23 11:49:46 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "test.txt"
2025/03/23 11:49:46 DEBUG : Using config file from "C:\\Tools\\rclone\\rclone.conf"
2025/03/23 11:49:46 DEBUG : fs cache: renaming child cache item "test.txt" to be canonical for parent "//?/C:/Tools/rclone"
2025/03/23 11:49:46 DEBUG : Creating backend with remote "OneDrive:/Documents/Zoom/testing2.txt"
2025/03/23 11:49:46 DEBUG : fs cache: renaming cache item "OneDrive:/Documents/Zoom/testing2.txt" to be canonical "OneDrive:Documents/Zoom/testing2.txt"
2025/03/23 11:49:47 DEBUG : test.txt: Need to transfer - File not found at Destination
2025/03/23 11:49:47 DEBUG : test.txt: Starting multipart upload
2025/03/23 11:49:47 DEBUG : test.txt: Uploading segment 0/8 size 8
2025/03/23 11:49:48 DEBUG : test.txt: quickxor = 6828031bd8f00610344001000800000000000000 OK
2025/03/23 11:49:48 INFO  : test.txt: Copied (new)
2025/03/23 11:49:48 INFO  :
Transferred:              8 B / 8 B, 100%, 0 B/s, ETA -
Transferred:            1 / 1, 100%
Elapsed time:         1.6s

2025/03/23 11:49:48 DEBUG : 7 go routines active

Probably not relevant but, I should mention that I had previously used rclone on my Raspberry Pi to backup lots of files to Backblaze B2 and that has been working fine.

To copy single file use rclone copyto and NOT rclone copy.. It is mentioned in documentation.

What you do here is copying content of test.txt directory (which probably does not exist) to remote directory OneDrive:/Documents/Zoom/test.txt.

so run instead:

rclone copyto test.txt OneDrive:Documents/Zoom/test.txt

also you do not need forward slash after remote name. It can have some special meaning especially in multi-tenant setup.

No. It does not show you any files:) rclone lsd lists directories only. Use rclone ls , lsl or lsf to list files.

Because it is business account? You have tenant (ID of the service principal's tenant) specified which would indicate that it is part of some organisation. And not personal account you own. Did you buy it officially from Microsoft? Business or not your email address does not mean anything really.

Hi @kapitainsky
Thanks for the reply.

I deleted the Application in the Azure Portal and the local Config in rclone and tried all over again.

This time it worked and I can now ls or lsd or lsf and see the expected results.

I think my mistake the 1st time may have that I selected select the wrong Account type in step 2 of the instructions for Creating Client ID for OneDrive Personal Microsoft OneDrive

Thanks!

1 Like