Guides / OneDrive → Nextcloud

How to Transfer Files from OneDrive to Nextcloud

The fastest way to move, copy or migrate files from OneDrive to Nextcloud is a direct cloud-to-cloud transfer: your files go straight from one provider to the other without ever being downloaded to your computer. Cloud Combo does this for free, for files and whole folder trees, with live progress.

OneDrive comes bundled with Microsoft 365, but users leaving the Microsoft ecosystem often want their files elsewhere. Nextcloud is the leading self-hosted cloud: your files live on your own server (or a managed host you trust), fully under your control. Whether you are switching for good, consolidating accounts, or just keeping a backup copy in a second cloud, here is the step-by-step process.

Step-by-step

  1. 1

    Create a free Cloud Combo account

    Sign up at cloudcombo.app — it takes under a minute and no credit card is required.

  2. 2

    Connect your OneDrive account

    From the dashboard, click "Add Drive" and connect your OneDrive account. You'll sign in with the provider directly via OAuth — Cloud Combo never sees your password.

  3. 3

    Connect your Nextcloud account

    Add your Nextcloud account as well. Choose the "WebDAV / Nextcloud" tile and enter your WebDAV server URL (for Nextcloud it looks like https://cloud.example.com/remote.php/dav/files/USERNAME), your username, and an app password — in Nextcloud you can create one under Settings → Security. Both drives now appear side by side in your dashboard.

  4. 4

    Select the files or folders to move

    Open New Transfer, browse the source drive, and select any files or entire folders — nested folders transfer completely, keeping their structure. Personal Vault will not be listed: Microsoft hides it from every third-party app, so move anything you need out of it first.

  5. 5

    Pick a destination folder and confirm

    Choose where the files should land, review the total size, and start the transfer. It runs in the cloud — you can close the tab and watch live progress on the Transfer List page. Files are written over WebDAV into the folder you choose, and your server's own quota and external-storage rules apply as normal.

What happens to your files on this route

  • Files kept in OneDrive's Personal Vault cannot be read by Cloud Combo, or by any other third-party app — Microsoft blocks all of them, by design. Move those files into an ordinary folder before you transfer, or they will be reported as unreadable and left behind.
  • Unlike the hosted providers, a WebDAV PUT silently replaces a file of the same name — there is no auto-rename to fall back on. Cloud Combo checks whether the name is already taken and picks a free one before writing, so a re-run does not overwrite what is already there.
  • Arrival is proven, not assumed. WebDAV has no standard content hash, so Cloud Combo verifies by size the server reports back and re-reads anything that does not match. A file that does not match is transferred again automatically.
  • Folder structure is preserved exactly: nested folders are recreated in Nextcloud as they were in OneDrive, and empty folders come across too.

Good to know for this transfer

  • Transfers into OneDrive use Microsoft's resumable upload sessions, chunking large files so they arrive reliably.
  • Cloud Combo connects to Nextcloud over WebDAV — the same connection type also works with ownCloud, Synology NAS, Koofr and any other WebDAV-compatible storage.
  • The transfer runs on our servers, not in your browser, so it keeps going once you close the tab — and it does not consume your own bandwidth, which matters when OneDrive holds more than your connection could move in a day. Files that fail are retried on their own and reported one by one; a single unreadable file never stops the rest.
  • Nothing is counted as delivered on trust. Nextcloud has to confirm what it stored matches what left OneDrive, and anything that does not match is sent again — which is also how a re-run repairs a damaged earlier copy instead of skipping it.
  • Your files are never stored by Cloud Combo: they stream directly between OneDrive and Nextcloud over encrypted connections, authorized via OAuth 2.0 — or, for WebDAV servers, an app password sent only over encrypted HTTPS.

Common questions

Do I need to download my files from OneDrive first?

No. The transfer runs server-side: files stream from OneDrive straight into Nextcloud without touching your computer, so your own bandwidth and disk are not used and you can close the browser while it runs.

Will this delete anything from OneDrive?

No. A transfer only ever copies. Everything stays in OneDrive exactly as it was, so you can verify the result in Nextcloud before you remove anything yourself.

How long does a OneDrive to Nextcloud transfer take?

Far more depends on how many files you have than on their total size: every file is a separate request to OneDrive and another to Nextcloud, and both rate-limit independently, so a hundred thousand small files takes much longer than the same bytes in a few large ones. A few gigabytes across a few hundred files is usually well under an hour. Large migrations run for days and that is normal — a real 510 GB move of 222,844 files completed in full, and the largest route run so far was 2 TB. Nothing needs you present while it works.

Is there anything in OneDrive that will not transfer?

Files kept in OneDrive's Personal Vault cannot be read by Cloud Combo, or by any other third-party app — Microsoft blocks all of them, by design. Move those files into an ordinary folder before you transfer, or they will be reported as unreadable and left behind.

What if the transfer is interrupted?

It resumes. Progress is tracked per file, individual files are retried on their own, and one failure never stops the rest — you get a report naming any file that did not make it and why, rather than a silent partial copy.

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