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About OneDrive

OneDrive is a file hosting service and synchronization service that Microsoft runs as part of its web version of Office. It was first launched in August 2007, allowing you to store files and personal data (such as Windows settings or BitLocker recovery keys) in the cloud, share files, and sync files across Android, Windows, and other devices. OneDrive offers 5 GB of storage space free of charge and if you need more space, then you need to purchase its subscription. With the OneDrive cloud service, you can:

⭕ Sync files between the cloud and local folders.

⭕ Access files from multiple devices.

⭕ Make a data backup and restore to previously saved versions from the cloud when necessary.

⭕ Share files, photos, and even entire folders with friends, colleagues, and family members.

Transfer Files from One OneDrive Account to Another
Transfer Files from One OneDrive Account to Another

How to transfer files from one OneDrive account to another directly and quickly? Before that, some reasons make you decide to copy files between OneDrive accounts.

Why Transfer Files from One OneDrive Account to Another?

There could be various reasons behind moving files between OneDrive accounts, such as:

The current OneDrive account is not working properly.
You have some essential documents in a shared account and want to transfer documents from one OneDrive account to another.
You are using a professional email account and there is not enough space available after freeing up space in OneDrive.
You want to transfer files, documents, videos, etc. to another account for data backup.

How to transfer files from OneDrive to another account effectively? Check the below best free OneDrive migration tool.

How to Move Files from OneDrive to Another Account in 4 Quick Ways

Since OneDrive lacks features that facilitate transferring files from OneDrive to another account directly with no download and upload. so, for direct OneDrive to OneDrive migration, here  we would like to recommend using the FREE cloud storage manager called MultCloud. As an online cloud management and transfer service, it can help you to get the following benefits:

Move files from OneDrive to another OneDrive directly without downloading and uploading regardless of personal or business account.
It supports not only OneDrive but also supports other 30+ cloud services, including Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, iCloud Photos, Gmail, Box, SharePoint, Flickr, Google Photos, Amazon S3, SugarSync, Hubic, Evernote, MEGA, MySQL, MediaFire, ownCloud, ADrive, BaiDu, NAS, WebDAV, FTP/SFTP, etc. So, transfer data from Dropbox to Box, or other supported cloud services are also available.
Provides multiple ways to copy files between OneDrive accounts, like cloud sync, cloud backup, cloud transfer, copy to, team transfer, and more.
Offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface to move files from one drive to another with a few clicks.

Thus, how to transfer OneDrive files to another account? You can transfer files from one OneDrive account to another in 4 quick ways with MultCloud, just check it here.

Way 1. Best Free Way to Move Files from one OneDrive Account to Another

How to move files from one drive to another without copying them manually? Cloud Transfer is the most recommended way because you can create a "Cloud Transfer" task to transfer OneDrive files to another account without copying and downloading.

1. Please create one MultCloud account, and log in to your MultCloud account now.

2. Click "Add Cloud" and follow the steps to add your two OneDrive accounts to MultCloud.

Add OneDrive
Add OneDrive to MultCloud

3. Go to "Cloud Transfer" page, select folders you want to transfer from your first OneDrive account and select your second OneDrive account as the target.

Transfer OneDrive to OneDrive
Transfer OneDrive to OneDrive

4. Click on "Transfer Now" to transfer everything from OneDrive to another account, and wait for the process to complete.

Notes:

  • You can select certain files from OneDrive as the source and select your second OneDrive account as the destination to transfer files between OneDrive accounts. Or you can set up Options > Filter to select certain file types to move.
  • For "Cloud Transfer" feature, is more suitable for transferring folders, files, or whole cloud drives. If there are hundreds of folders that need to be transferred, you can perform a Cloud Transfer task to move folders from one OneDrive to another.
  • You can enable the "Schedule" feature to automatically move OneDrive files from one user to another. Unlock all advanced features including Schedule, Filter, and up to 10 threads to transfer faster.
  • As MultCloud supports offline transfer, you can close the page, or even close your computer because MultCloud can deal with your task in the background.

Way 2. Transfer Files from One OneDrive Account to Another by "Copy To"

The Copy to feature is another way to copy data from one OneDrive account to another quickly. Check the following steps to transfer from OneDrive to another.

1. Ensure you have added your two OneDrive accounts to MultCloud.

2. Then go to your first OneDrive accountselect the files and folders you want to migrate, and choose "Copy to" from the top menu or right-click menu.

Transfer Files from One OneDrive Account to Another
Migrate Files between OneDrive Accounts

3. Select a directory in another OneDrive account as the target, and click "OK" to copy files from OneDrive to another OneDrive in bulk. 

Tip: You can enable Multi-select to move OneDrive files to multiple cloud services to keep them safe.

Way 3. Sync Files Between Two OneDrive Accounts in Real-Time

If you need to sync files from one OneDrive account to another in real-time, any changes should be synced to each other, Real Time Sync in MultCloud can do you a big favor to transfer OneDrive to another account. Just check the following steps:

1. After adding your OneDrive accounts to MultCloud by clicking Add Cloud. Click Cloud Sync > Real Time Sync, then click the Switch to two-way sync.

Real Time Sync Switch to Two-Way
Real Time Sync Switch to Two-Way

Tip: If you did not click Switch to two-way sync, it's one-way sync by default.

2. Select one OneDrive account as the source, and another OneDrive as the destination directory.

Real Time Sync Files from OneDrive to Another Account
Real Time Sync Files from OneDrive to Another Account

3. Click Sync Now to sync files between two OneDrive accounts continuously.

Tips:

  • Up to 10 sync modes can be configured in Options, like one-way sync, two-way sync, move sync, mirror sync, incremental sync, full backup sync, and so on. Unlock to enjoy all.
  • Email and Filter in Options can be set up to get email alerts and only sync files as you want.
  • Smart Share: Share cloud files via public, private, or source mode.
  • One-key Move: Quick data transfer, sync, and backup among clouds.
  • Email Archive: Protect emails to other clouds or local disks.
  • Remote upload: Effectively save web files to clouds via URL.
  • Safe: Full-time 256-bit AES and OAuth authorization protections.
  • Easy: Access and manage all clouds in one place with one login.
  • Extensive: 30+ clouds and on-premise services are supported.

Way 4. Move Files from one OneDrive Account to Another by "Share"

There is a way to transfer files from one OneDrive to others' OneDrive accounts, that's share. Besides, you're able to share OneDrive files outside the organization safely. This way is to use the "Share" function of MultCloud to transfer files between OneDrive accounts.

1. Open OneDrive in MultCloud, select the document or folder to be transferred, then click the "Share" button, and finally select the mode to share in the pop-up window: Public Share, Private Share, or Source Share. After creating the link, send the link to your friends.

Choose Share in OneDrive
Choose Share in OneDrive
Choose Share Modes
Choose Share Modes

2. Your friend can download the data in your OneDrive through this link or can choose to save the data directly to their OneDrive account.

Direct Download or Save to Cloud
Direct Download or Save to Cloud

Notes:

  • If your friend needs to transfer files to his or her OneDrive account, they need to first create a MultCloud account and add their OneDrive account to their MultCloud account.
  • If they have registered MultCloud accounts, you can use the sharing function of MultCloud to share interesting pictures, videos, or some application packages between different cloud drive accounts among you and your friends or family members.
  • If you create a "Private Share", you also need to send the default password (this password can be customized) to your friends.
Create a Private Share
Create a Private Share

How to Transfer Files from OneDrive to Another OneDrive in 4 Manual Ways

Way 1. Move Files from OneDrive to Another by Drag and Drop

There used to be another way to copy OneDrive files to another OneDrive account, drag and drop. You can just drag the file from one OneDrive to another, here is how it works:

1. Please log in to your first OneDrive account on a web browser, and log in to another OneDrive account using another browser, and open a folder. Have them appear side by side on the screen.

2. Tick the files and folders you'd like to move in the first OneDrive account, drag these files and drop them to the folder in another OneDrive account.

3. Wait for the process to complete to move OneDrive files to another account manually.

Limitation: Sometimes, it's not working to drag and drop files between OneDrive accounts.

You can also use the OneDrive desktop app to let OneDrive transfer files to another account manually, move files from one OneDrive folder to another OneDrive folder on your computer. Because OneDrive supports running 1 personal account plus up to 9 business accounts.

Way 2. Migrate OneDrive to Another OneDrive via Download & Upload

How to move files from one OneDrive to another via downloading and uploading, here is how:

1. Log in to your first OneDrive account, and tick all files and folders you'd like to move, tap Download from the top menu.

Download Files from OneDrive
Download Files from OneDrive

2. All the selected files will be downloaded in your Downloads folder within a ZIP folder, named with "OneDrive-CurrentDate.zip".

3. Go to your another OneDrive account, choose a folder to store these files, tap the Add New button, choose Files upload or Folder upload to upload these files.

Upload OneDrive Files to Another OneDrive
Upload OneDrive Files to Another OneDrive

Tips: It's highly recommended to unzip the zip folder before uploading, or you can't preview, edit these files in OneDrive as you want. And it will be time-consuming, so it's not the ideal way to transfer OneDrive data to another account.

Way 3. Move OneDrive to Another Account via the Desktop App

If you have installed OneDrive desktop app on your computer, and log in to both your OneDrive accounts, you can follow the below steps to migrate OneDrive to another OneDrive. But you can only add one OneDrive personal account and up to 9 OneDrive for business accounts. 

Migrate OneDrive Personal to OneDrive for Work or School Account

1. Please open the two OneDrive folders through the OneDrive desktop app.

2. Go to the OneDrive personal account, find and select files and folders you'd like to move, use Ctrl+C to copy these files.

3. Go to the OneDrive for business folder, then use Ctrl+V to paste these OneDrive personal files within it.

Tips:

You can use drag and drop to move files from one OneDrive account to another, it's only appear in the destination OneDrive account other than the source account.

It's easy to operate, but it will occupy the local disk and network bandwidths. It's sttraightforward to move few files but not a large number of files.

Way 4. Share Entire OneDrive Folder with Another Account

In fact, the Share function in OneDrive can help you to copy files between OneDrive accounts, here is how it works:

1. Please go to your first OneDrive account on the website.

2. Create a new folder, then move the needed files and folders into the newly created folder. Then tick it and choose Share.

3. Input the second OneDrive account, and hit Send.

4. Go to the second OneDrive account, then open the shared folder, and choose "Add to my OneDrive".

By doing this, the files will be copied to the second account without being downloaded locally. Remember that the amount of your files and your internet speed will determine how long this procedure takes.

FAQs about Migrating Files between OneDrive Accounts

Can I directly move files between OneDrive accounts?
 
OneDrive doesn't offer a direct "move" feature between accounts. You'll need to use sharing or manual downloading/uploading to move manually. Or you can move files between OneDrive accounts directly with a third-party tool like MultCloud.
How do I download files from one OneDrive account to upload them to another?
 
Open the source OneDrive account, select files, click "Download", then sign in to the destination OneDrive account and upload the files.
Are there any third-party tools to simplify transferring between OneDrive accounts?
 
Yes, there are third-party tools designed to facilitate cross-account transfers. MultCloud is the one that allows you directly transfer files between OneDrive accounts with simple steps.
Will file metadata (such as creation dates) be preserved during the transfer?
 
File metadata might not always be preserved during manual transfers. Some tools like MultCloud will keep file metadata information, as well as the folder structure and others, to keep them organized just like before the transfer.

Summary

Generally speaking, you can transfer files from one OneDrive account to another by downloading and re-uploading, dragging and dropping. However, if you don't want to spend any time and energy manually downloading and re-uploading, the 4 quick methods listed above offered by Multcloud are perfect.  Moreover, you can also use MultCloud to transfer OneDrive files to another account by admin with Team Transfer, sync and backup data across different clouds easily with "Cloud Sync", and more. Thus, you can sync photos from OneDrive to Google Photos, and sync Google Drive to OneDrive for free, etc.

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