How-To

Remote Access Files at Home with OneDrive Fetch

By Brian Burgess

Last Updated on August 19, 2021

Microsoft’s OneDrive has a powerful remote access feature you may not be aware of that could save the day while at the office. Here’s how to enable it.

Microsoft’s OneDrive is meant to be your cloud destination for all of your files so that you can access them from anywhere. It also has a powerful fetch remote access feature you may not be aware of that could save the day while you’re at the office.

Here’s the scenario:

You have an important meeting with the department heads, and your presentation is sitting on your computer at home. You forgot to upload it to OneDrive, and you never set up Remote Desktop…what to do?

You can remotely gain access to that file via OneDrive, Yes. OneDrive. But wait, didn’t I just say you forgot to upload the document to OneDrive?

Not to worry, for such a scenario, this is where powerful features of OneDrive come in handy. The fetch remote access is a feature that will help save the day.

Enable OneDrive Fetch

To enable fetch access, right-click the OneDrive icon and select Settings.

Then check the box “Let me use OneDrive to fetch any of my files on this PC.” That’s all there is to it! There’s no software to set up, or router configurations to make.

To access your files from your computer at home from the office or vice versa, open up OneDrive on the web at onedrive.com and sign in to your Microsoft account if you’re not already.

Then from the left pane, select the computer that contains the files you need.

The Fetch Features allow you to download a copy of your files from virtually anywhere and from any device. You can access files on your local C: drive, any mapped network drive, or connected internal or external drives.

Also, you can stream videos and view pictures remotely in your browser.

For more on using fetch access and troubleshooting steps, check out this Microsoft support page.