this pc > documents acts different from c > user > name > document

Question

I seem to have encountered something weird. I know that the two folders, this pc and user\name, are the same, and C:\user\name\Documents is just the path to documents. But when I open up documents via it's path, the folder is empty.

C:\User\dasch\Documents:

However, when I click on documents in the sidebar of File Explorer, all my files are there.

Documents shortcut:

What is happening here? I found this is affected the Desktop and Photos folder when I try to access them via their path.

Update: I went into the registry and returned all of the files affected by onedrive to their original %USERPROFILE% values. After I took two screenshots and noticed they weren't going to my OneDrive folder but the original folder on my computer. it seems File Explorer is still routing me to the Onedrive folders. How do I get explorer to route me to the original folders?

Answer 1

Windows actually allows you to move libraries to different places, even different hard drives. While Documents is normally located in your user folder the library can be changed to point to D:\Files\Documents for example.

To check where a library is currently located:
-Right click the library (for example Documents)
-Select Properties in the context menu
-The properties windows will now display the location of the library

To change the path:
-Switch to the path tab of the libraries property window and press move, a message box will appear:
-Pressing yes will change the libraries path and move all files
-Pressing no will change the libraries path but wont move any files
-Pressing cancel will abort the move operation