Guide

How to move your files from Dropbox to OneDrive

There is no button that connects a personal Dropbox to a personal OneDrive. Microsoft's migration tools are built for companies and need an administrator. So the move is done either by hand through your computer, or by a service that copies between the two clouds for you. Both are covered here, in plain language.

Updated September 2026 · Applies to personal Dropbox (Basic, Plus, Family) and personal OneDrive

First, pick your method

Method 1 — Download and re-upload through the browser

Fine for a small Dropbox, and worth trying first.

1. Open dropbox.com, tick the folders you want, click Download. Dropbox packs them into a zip file.
2. Unzip on your computer.
3. Open onedrive.live.com → Add new → Folder upload, pick the unzipped folder. Keep the browser tab open until it finishes.

What to expect: Photos, videos, PDFs and Office files arrive exactly as they were — and Word, Excel and PowerPoint files actually behave better in OneDrive than they did in Dropbox, because they open straight into Office on the web. Files other people shared with you are not included; they belong to their owners.

Method 2 — Desktop apps, side by side

Both services offer a desktop app that keeps a copy of your cloud on your computer. Put them next to each other and the move becomes a copy-paste.

1. Install the Dropbox desktop app and make sure your files are really on the disk, not just "online-only": right-click the Dropbox folder → Make available offline. Check your free disk space first.
2. Install OneDrive for desktop and sign in to the Microsoft account you're moving to.
3. Copy folders from the Dropbox folder into the OneDrive folder. OneDrive uploads them in the background.

The part that catches people

Check your OneDrive space before you start. A free Microsoft account gets 5 GB; the Basic plan 100 GB; a Microsoft 365 subscription 1 TB. A Dropbox that outgrew its own plan will not fit into 5 GB, and OneDrive stops silently when the quota fills — the copy looks like it's still running when it isn't.

Single files are capped at 250 GB in OneDrive. That's generous, but video projects and disk images can hit it.

Your computer needs to stay on and awake for the whole copy. On a laptop, plug it in and turn off sleep.

What the desktop-app method leaves behind

• Shared with you — folders someone else owns don't count as yours. Ask the owner to share again in OneDrive, or copy their contents into your own Dropbox first.
• Sharing links — every link you'd sent from Dropbox stops working. You'll create new ones in OneDrive.
• Version history — Dropbox keeps older versions of a file; only the current version is copied.
• Dropbox Paper — Paper docs live inside Dropbox, not as files. Open each one → Export → Word or PDF before you move.
• Comments and file requests — these are Dropbox features, not part of the files. Nothing carries them across.

Method 3 — Let a service do it

A transfer service connects to both accounts and copies directly between them. Your computer isn't involved, so it can be off. This is what DriveFerry does: you say where the files are and where they should go, and you get a report at the end showing what arrived and what needs your attention.

It's worth paying for when the move is large, when you'd rather not leave a computer running for two days, or when you want proof that every file made it.

Before you delete anything from Dropbox

Wait until you've opened a few files in OneDrive and confirmed they're really there. Compare the folder sizes on both sides. Dropbox keeps deleted files for 30 days on most plans, but don't rely on that as your safety net.