aliases:
- Obsidian Sync/Obsidian Sync and third-party services
- Obsidian Sync/Migrate to Obsidian Sync
cssclasses:
- soft-embed
description: Learn how to transition from your current syncing solution to Obsidian Sync.
mobile: true
permalink: sync/switch
publish: true
Learn how to transition from your current syncing solution to Obsidian Sync.
We do not recommend using Obsidian Sync alongside cloud storage services (e.g. iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive) as this can cause conflicts. However, cloud storage services may play a role in your backup strategy.
If your vault is stored in any of the following locations, it's likely being synced by a third-party service:
C:\Users\Username\Desktop
or C:\Users\Username\Documents
/users/username/Desktop
or /users/username/Documents
Drive/my-vault
, Dropbox/my-vault
, pSync/my-vault
, etc.While Android and Linux tend to have fewer issues with this, it's still worth checking your vault location on these devices.
To avoid conflicts with syncing services, we recommend storing your Obsidian vaults in the following locations:
D:\
or any other non-C, non-network drive on your deviceC:\Vaults
(if you have permissions to use the C:\ drive)C:\Users\Username\Vaults
(if you must keep your vault within C:\Users\Username, make sure OneDrive is set not to remove files. OneDrive is generally less aggressive outside of Desktop
and Documents
folders.)/users/username/vaults
Documents/
folder on your device.Some operating systems do not allow the vault to be moved with the Vault Switcher. In these cases, you will need to move your vault manually:
On mobile devices, Obsidian operates in a sandboxed environment, meaning you cannot move vaults within the app like you can on desktop.
Android filesystems vary greatly by device, but generally, follow the same steps as you would to move your vault manually, ensuring it is removed from any syncing service on your device.
To move an existing iCloud vault to your device, follow these steps:
Once you reopen Obsidian, the vault should show a vault icon instead of a cloud icon, confirming it is no longer in iCloud Drive. Obsidian Sync will also no longer display the warning message within its settings.