Back up a folder to OneDrive on a Mac, without moving it

Why OneDrive does not back up your other folders

The OneDrive app uploads the files inside the OneDrive folder on your Mac, and nothing else. A project folder on your desktop or on an external drive stays out of it. OneDrive also does not follow shortcuts (aliases or symbolic links) to folders elsewhere, so pointing it at another folder does not work either.

What you can try for free first

1. Move the folder into OneDrive. Simple, but the folder now lives in OneDrive, and anything you delete there is deleted everywhere.
2. Copy it by hand. Drag the folder into OneDrive from time to time. It works, but it is easy to forget, and you copy everything again each time.
3. Use Time Machine. It backs up your whole Mac to a disk, which is good protection, but it does not put your files in OneDrive.

Keep a copy with KBackup Basic (free)

KBackup is a small menu-bar app that copies a folder into your OneDrive folder and lets the OneDrive app upload it. It copies in one direction only, so your original folder is never changed.

1. Make sure the OneDrive app is set up on your Mac, then download KBackup Basic from its page and open it.
2. Click its menu-bar icon and add a folder. Choose where it should go inside OneDrive. BASIC keeps up to two folders backed up.
3. Press Sync Now. KBackup copies only new and changed files, through a temporary file, so an interrupted copy never leaves a broken file behind.
4. From then on it syncs at login and whenever the drive with that folder is connected. The activity log lists every file it copied.

It never deletes anything from OneDrive and never replaces a newer file there with an older one. Names OneDrive cannot store are skipped and listed, never renamed.

What the free edition does not do

BASIC backs up two folders, one way. Unlimited folders, every drive, two-way sync, automatic backups and the extra safety tools are part of KBackup ADVANCED.