Oops… Looks like Microsoft has done it again… and by “it” I mean added another intrusive survey about users trying to close OneDrive. That’s right: just trying to close OneDrive in Windows 11 will bring up a survey window asking why you’re even thinking about doing such a thing.
The pop-up window reads:
“Close OneDrive?
If you close OneDrive, the files in your OneDrive folder won’t be synced or backed up to the cloud, so you won’t see your changes across devices. “
You will then get a drop-down list with the title Select a reason to close OneDrive.
There are also two options: Cancel (and to complete the termination process, and thus continue running OneDrive), or to Quit OneDrive which will be grayed out until you choose a reason. Microsoft insists on an explanation before you can quit the app.
Here are the possible reasons you can choose from:
- I don’t want OneDrive to be running all the time
- I don’t know what OneDrive is
- I don’t use OneDrive
- I’m trying to solve a problem with OneDrive
- I’m trying to speed up my computer
- I’m getting too many notifications
- Other
If you’re really serious about quitting OneDrive, you should choose one of these. Oddly enough “Because I want to. What kind of question is this?” is not an option. Or you could simply consider looking for another cloud storage service altogether.
I’m trying to understand Microsoft’s decisions
First noticed by Neowinthis dialog box will appear every time you try to close OneDrive from your taskbar.
While this development is baffling, it doesn’t make a huge difference from how annoying it was to close OneDrive before this update. The action was hidden as the confusing option of Pause syncing in the menu that appears when you right-click OneDrive in the taskbar.
Microsoft has developed OneDrive as the new default central location for file management, taking both the document and picture libraries and syncing them with Microsoft cloud storage in Windows 11. If you haven’t already set up OneDrive and this sync hasn’t taken place to For some reason, Microsoft will keep reminding you to do this by default while you’re using Windows 11. For example, such a prompt appears when you try to change your desktop background.
Tsktsk, Microsoft. I don’t know why you would think this was a good idea. The amount of feedback Microsoft is collecting on this just doesn’t seem worth the user ill-will that increases with every development like this. A while ago we wrote about how Microsoft continually questioned users who used Edge to try to download Chrome, demanding to know why they were making the switch. A sidebar window would literally display a survey directly on Chrome’s download page.
Now you have to justify your decision to close OneDrive or you shouldn’t pause it.
Tom Warren of The Verge has a great tip if you want to avoid this folly altogether: you can open Task management, search for Microsoft OneDrive (or perform a search) and stop the program by ending the task. This is a bit annoying, but it also lets you bypass Microsoft’s inquisition. Warren jokes that we might see Microsoft putting out a survey for us trying to turn off our Windows machines, asking why you would want to turn off your computer in the first place. With any story like this, a joke like this becomes all the easier to imagine.