How to Transfer All Files from One OneDrive Account to Another

4 EASY STEPS

How to Transfer Files from OneDrive Account to Another?

Here are simple steps required to transfer OneDrive files to another OneDrive account with MultCloud

Step 1. Sign Up MultCloud Account

Sign up for a MultCloud account and log in to manage, sync, and migrate all your cloud files in one place. MultCloud also supports quick and secure sign-in with Google, Facebook, and Apple accounts, making account access faster and more convenient across devices.

Around 80% of users choose Google Sign-In due to its simplicity and fast, one-click access experience.

Step 2. Add Your OneDrive Accounts

Click “Add Cloud” in MultCloud, then securely connect both your source and destination OneDrive accounts. Once authorized, both accounts will appear in your cloud list, allowing you to easily manage them in one centralized interface and prepare for seamless file transfer between them.

School or corporate accounts often block third-party cloud access. Run a quick test transfer with a single file first to ensure your organization’s IT admin hasn't restricted external integrations.

Step 3. Create a OneDrive to OneDrive Transfer Task

Open the “Cloud Transfer” feature in MultCloud, then choose your source OneDrive account and your target OneDrive account for migration. You can select specific files or entire folders depending on your transfer needs.

We recommend excluding temporary files like .tmp or ~$ during the setup, which can speed up your transfer by 15%.

Once started,the transfer will run in the cloud.You can close your browser or turn off your computer, and the transfer will continue.

Take Full Control of Your OneDrive to OneDrive Migration

Stop downloading and re-uploading. Seamlessly transfer files, folders, or entire accounts across OneDrive environments.
Zero local bandwidth, 100% data integrity, and enterprise-grade automation.

Selective OneDrive File Migration

Scenario : Graduate from college or leave your job, your institution will soon de-activate your Office 365 account? Back up hundreds of GBs of critical portfolios and personal research to a new OneDrive, but don't want to waste your new cloud storage on useless school assignments or outdated company logs.

Solution : Eliminates the restriction of an "all-or-nothing" migration. You have total flexibility to either initiate a full-account mirror to clone your entire root directory, or selectively cherry-pick only the high-value sub-folders, libraries, and specific files that matter

Automate Scheduled OneDrive Transfers

Scenario : Managing large, ongoing file transfers during peak work hours eats up your bandwidth and disrupts team collaboration. Worse, nobody wants to waste hours sitting at their desk just staring at a slow progress bar, waiting for the job to finish.

Solution : Set up our Off-Peak automation plan to schedule transfers daily, weekly, or monthly at specific times (like midnight or weekends). Once configured, MultCloud executes the task entirely on its cloud servers—no manual supervision, active browser tabs, or PC power required.

Receive Email Notifications After Transfer

Scenario : When migrating terabytes of data, you can't afford to waste hours tracking the progress, nor do you want to manually cross-check thousands of folders afterwards just to find out if a critical file was quietly skipped or corrupted due to network blips.

Solution : Go beyond basic "Task Done" alerts with our Instant Delivery & Exception Reports. Once finished, a comprehensive status summary lands directly in your inbox. If any file fails due to admin permission blocks or temporary timeouts, the email provides a direct link to the specific error log for instant troubleshooting.

Manage Existing Files Intelligently

Scenario : Running incremental migrations or scheduled sync tasks carries a massive risk: you could accidentally overwrite a critical new file with an older version, or end up with thousands of messy, duplicate files cluttering your destination drive.

Solution : Choose how MultCloud handles duplicate or existing files in the destination OneDrive account to avoid unnecessary overwrites or conflicts during migration.

Skip the file: Skips existing files to save maximum time and bandwidth.

Overwrite if source newer: Updates files only if the source has a more recent timestamp.

Overwrite if different size: Replaces files only when the file size changes.

Overwrite if different size or source newer: Dual-layer rule to guarantee the most up-to-date dataset.

Always overwrite: Performs a complete hard-overwrite to forcefully mirror the source.

Rename: Appends a suffix to keep both copies and prevent any data loss.

Filter Files During Migration

Scenario : Cloud drives are heavily cluttered with useless background files, such as temporary cache (*.tmp), system logs (*.log), lock files (~$), or hidden backup strings (*.bak). Transferring these redundant files blindfolded not only wastes your premium OneDrive storage but also severely drags down your overall migration speed.

Solution : Use file filtering options to include or exclude specific file types, helping you avoid transferring unnecessary files and boost overall migration efficiency by up to 15%.

Manual Methods to Transfer Files from OneDrive Account to Another

Download & Re-upload

Drag & Drop via Desktop App

Share & Copy Between Accounts

Best for small one-time transfers.

Step 1. Log in to your source Microsoft OneDrive account and download selected files/folders.

Step 2. Extract ZIP files if needed.

Step 3. Log in to the target OneDrive account and upload files via Upload → Files/Folders.

Cons:

Time-consuming for anything beyond small files (100GB of small files can crash browsers. Any Wi-Fi hiccup will corrupt the ZIP package, forcing a painful manual re-verification.)
Unstable upload/download pipeline (Fragile transfers easily broken by network drops, leading to corrupted data and forced full restarts.)

Best for medium-sized transfers with local control.

Step 1. Install and sign in to OneDrive desktop app with both accounts.

Step 2. Sync both OneDrive accounts to your computer.

Step 3. Open File Explorer. Drag and drop files between the two OneDrive folders.

Cons:

Local Cache Bottlenecks (Caches data locally, which can max out your hard drive and freeze your system during large transfers.)
Unstable Sync Pipeline (Complex folders frequently trigger sync deadlocks, resulting in corrupted metadata and manual troubleshooting.)
Rigid Account Limitations (Officially restricted to migrating between one personal and one work/school account on the same system.)

Best for transferring without downloading locally.

Step 1. Share files/folders from source OneDrive to target account.

Step 2. Accept access in the destination account under Shared.

Step 3. Use “Add shortcut to My files” or “Copy to” to save to your own storage.

Cons:

Ghost ownership & permission risks (If you accidentally use "Add shortcut" instead of "Copy to", it is not a true migration; deleting files on the source account will instantly wipe them from the destination account.)
Messy metadata & manual cleanup (Mass copying often strips original creation dates and author metadata, leaving you with a cluttered, disorganized file structure that requires tedious manual renaming and sorting.)

MultCloud VS.Manual Methods: Summary Comparison for Quick Decision

Method	Speed	Risk	Local Storage Dependency	Automation
Download & Re-upload	Slow Limited by local ISP upload bandwidth (typically < 50 Mbps)	High Network drops cause transfer failures; high risk of missing data.	Heavy PC must stay powered on; requires massive local storage cache.	No Requires manual supervision; cannot run automatically
Drag & Drop	Medium Throttled by OneDrive sync queue; easily gets stuck on small files.	Medium High risk of sync conflicts, file locking, or version overwrites.	Medium Stable internet connection and active desktop sync clients are required.	No Cannot set schedules or recurring triggers.
Share & Copy	Medium Subject to Microsoft API rate limits (Cloud Throttling).	Medium Fails on deeply nested folder paths or cross-tenant permissions.	Medium Not required to download to local storage, but you must keep the browser window open.	No One-off manual action; no continuous automation.
	Fast Supports 10 threads parallel transmission to maximize cloud bandwidth.	Low Server-side breakpoint resume ensures 100% data integrity with auto-retry.	No Dependency PC can be turned off. Runs entirely on background cloud servers.	Fully automated Scheduled transfer by daily, weekly or monthly.

Why Users Prefer MultCloud for OneDrive Migration

100% Online Transfer

Files move directly between clouds without downloading or uploading, saving your time, bandwidth, and local storage.

Keep Original Structure

The entire folder hierarchy and file organization are preserved during transfer, so you never need to manually reorganize or restructure your data afterward.

Fast & Efficient

Cloud-to-cloud transfer saves your time and bandwidth, with 10 threads running simultaneously to maximize speed and efficiency.

Secure & Private

256-bit AES encrypts data transfer to prevent theft, OAuth authorizes cloud access without storing passwords, and GDPR ensures personal data privacy and legal compliance.

Automate & Schedule

Run transfers immediately as a one-time task or set up automated recurring transfers based on your preferred schedule—daily, weekly, or monthly at a specific time.