If I delete photos/videos from phone will they be deleted from OneDrive?

[Kieran Coghlan]

I have a Nokia Lumia 929 (VZW Icon, aka Lumia 930 OUS) running Win10 build 10586.107. I have auto-upload enabled for my camera photos and videos, and they are all accessible on OneDrive (so everything's been uploaded/backed up). I'd like to delete a LOT Of them from my phone to free up some space on the limited internal storage (there's no SD slot on this phone).
How do I know if the versions on OneDrive will or will not also be deleted? Is there a setting for this? Often in cloud software there are sync settings which allow you to choose if things should be deleted on the server if they are deleted on the client. I'm not sure if this is how auto-upload for photos & videos works for Win10 mobile on Lumia phones or not.

I'll back up the OneDrive copies first anyway, just to be safe, but I'd like to know if there are settings that control this behavior or not. Even if I have backups, what I really want is to be able to keep the pics/vids on Onedrive for occasional viewing, but NOT keep them on my phone. With only 32GB internal storage, and taking lots of videos of the kids, it has filled up quickly.

Any clarification, help, guidance, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

 

[dorelse]

Honestly...I'd test it with a sample photo...and then verify what happens to it in the cloud. I suspect different settings will have different outcomes...so in your case, I'd want to test it out and make sure its doing the behavior you expect. If not, I'd change settings and test again...

 

[Kieran Coghlan]

If not, I'd change settings and test again...

Yes, that's exactly what I'd like to do. If there were any settings I could find that seem to affect this behavior.
I can't find any settings for what gets synced/backed up and what doesn't.
Can you tell me what these settings are, and where they are found?
Thanks!

 

[anon(6078578)]

Unless it's changed for Windows 10 Mobile, my understanding is that it's a one way sync from Phone to OneDrive since it's viewed more as a backup than a sync folder. I often delete photos from my phone and have to manually go to OneDrive to delete the copies. I prefer it that way and I hope they haven't changed that behavior for Windows 10 Mobile!

 

[Kieran Coghlan]

Unless it's changed for Windows 10 Mobile, my understanding is that it's a one way sync from Phone to OneDrive since it's viewed more as a backup than a sync folder. I often delete photos from my phone and have to manually go to OneDrive to delete the copies. I prefer it that way and I hope they haven't changed that behavior for Windows 10 Mobile!

I *guessed* that it was this way, but wasn't sure. I couldn't find any documentation stating it as such. It makes sense though. Thanks for the confirmation.

 

[anon(6078578)]

I *guessed* that it was this way, but wasn't sure. I couldn't find any documentation stating it as such. It makes sense though. Thanks for the confirmation.

Still, as dorelse said, just run off a few random photos, let them sync and then delete them off your phone. you should still see those photos remain.

 

[anon(6078578)]

When I used OneDrive on my Android phone, it was one way as well.

 

[M7H]

If you delete a picture, there is a message saying that it will be deleted from the phone and from one-drive.
What you should do, is go to your camera roll with file explorer, and delete pictures from there. You can even "select all". They will not affect your pictures on one-drive.

 

[M7H]

Unless it's changed for Windows 10 Mobile, my understanding is that it's a one way sync from Phone to OneDrive since it's viewed more as a backup than a sync folder. I often delete photos from my phone and have to manually go to OneDrive to delete the copies. I prefer it that way and I hope they haven't changed that behaviour for Windows 10 Mobile!

that's changed in W10.
A picture or video taken with your mobile, and stored on your camera roll, will be uploaded to OneDrive (if you enable that feature).
If you in the pictures App, delete a picture/video, it will give you a message, saying it will be deleted on both places (camera roll and OneDrive). So you don't seperately have to go to OneDrive to delete the picture/video again.
If you only want the picture/video deleted from your Phone, do it with File Explorer.

 

[M7H]

Additional, even if you have deleted all your files from OneDrive, they will be in the trash can, so it still is possible to undo a mistake you have made.
Yes, even if you have deleted it from within the photo app.

 

[anon(6078578)]

that's changed in W10.
A picture or video taken with your mobile, and stored on your camera roll, will be uploaded to OneDrive (if you enable that feature).
If you in the pictures App, delete a picture/video, it will give you a message, saying it will be deleted on both places (camera roll and OneDrive). So you don't seperately have to go to OneDrive to delete the picture/video again.
If you only want the picture/video deleted from your Phone, do it with File Explorer.

I have to say I don't like this change then. One way sync to me is a safety net. If my phone corrupts and I lose some photos, I don't trust that the OneDrive will now think I deleted them on purpose and also remove them from the cloud. If they happen to be older photos, I might not realize until too late (ie after they are gone from the recycle bin as well)

 

[M7H]

I have to say I don't like this change then. One way sync to me is a safety net. If my phone corrupts and I lose some photos, I don't trust that the OneDrive will now think I deleted them on purpose and also remove them from the cloud. If they happen to be older photos, I might not realize until too late (ie after they are gone from the recycle bin as well)

Wait, it is not two way syncing to the cloud!
Because then the version on OneDrive would also be deleted if you deleted the picture from the camera roll with file explorer.
So if your phone corrupts, and you loose some photos, they will still be there in OneDrive!
And because the new photo app collects everything found on your phone, and on OneDrive (I really LOVE that feature) you will not really notice it.
Really, believe me, it is bulletproof!
If you on purpose press the delete button on a picture, W10 will warn you that either:
- the picture will be deleted (which means it only exists on your phone)
- the picture will be deleted on your phone and on OneDrive
- the picture will be deleted on OneDrive.

 

[anon(6078578)]

Wait, it is not two way syncing to the cloud!
Because then the version on OneDrive would also be deleted if you deleted the picture from the camera roll with file explorer.
So if your phone corrupts, and you loose some photos, they will still be there in OneDrive!
And because the new photo app collects everything found on your phone, and on OneDrive (I really LOVE that feature) you will not really notice it.
Really, believe me, it is bulletproof!
If you on purpose press the delete button on a picture, W10 will warn you that either:
- the picture will be deleted (which means it only exists on your phone)
- the picture will be deleted on your phone and on OneDrive
- the picture will be deleted on OneDrive.

You're right I misused that word as I forgot it doesn't delete on phone when you delete on OneDrive.

 

[Kieran Coghlan]

that's changed in W10.
A picture or video taken with your mobile, and stored on your camera roll, will be uploaded to OneDrive (if you enable that feature).
If you in the pictures App, delete a picture/video, it will give you a message, saying it will be deleted on both places (camera roll and OneDrive). So you don't seperately have to go to OneDrive to delete the picture/video again.
If you only want the picture/video deleted from your Phone, do it with File Explorer.

That's not the behavior I'm seeing on my phone (Lumia 929/Icon, W10 build 10586.107).

When I select a picture in the photos app, and tap "delete" I get a pop-up that says "all copies will be deleted." When I click OK and delete the image, it is gone from the phone, but not from OneDrive. My assumption on the meaning of the message "all copies will be deleted" is that this refers to both the high-res and low-res copies of the image (my Lumia automatically makes two copies of each picture).


So it seems to me, that at least on my phone with this build of Win10, the behavior is more like a traditional "one-way sync".

Thoughts? Anyone else see similar behavior?

 

[anon(6078578)]

That's not the behavior I'm seeing on my phone (Lumia 929/Icon, W10 build 10586.107).

When I select a picture in the photos app, and tap "delete" I get a pop-up that says "all copies will be deleted." When I click OK and delete the image, it is gone from the phone, but not from OneDrive. My assumption on the meaning of the message "all copies will be deleted" is that this refers to both the high-res and low-res copies of the image (my Lumia automatically makes two copies of each picture).

So it seems to me, that at least on my phone with this build of Win10, the behavior is more like a traditional "one-way sync".

Thoughts? Anyone else see similar behavior?

I hope that's the case, as I personally don't see any advantage to the photo being deleted from OneDrive as well.

 

[jtzako]

On mine if I delete a photo from the phone pictures album it doesnt delete from One Drive. It will even still show up in the phone if I view the one drive album. If I delete it from both places it does delete from the One Drive.

 

[hitch]

if i deleted it from the phone, it delete it on One drive! No other option. 950XL

 

[Sudhindra Gururaj]

Yes and No, it all depends on how you delete the photos. While this worked for me, I could delete all the photos from camera roll and keep the copy on onedrive intact, I strongly advise you try this with a sample photo before deleting everything.

The phone gallery is in sync with onedrive, hence what you click gets uploaded and what you delete, gets deleted from onedrive too. However if you install a file browser app, such as "File explorer" and delete the photos from this, the onedrive remains untouched. Another option is to connect your phone to a computer and then delete photos through the computer.

Once done, your onedrive copies will still show on the gallery and if you tap on it, select file information, it should say Cloud (online).

Mine is a Lumia 550 with Windows 10. Hope this helped.