How to backup your personal Docs.com content
Microsoft's Docs.com service to be discontinued
Microsoft is retiring the Docs.com service on Friday, December 15, 2017 and we are hereby advising all users to move their existing Docs.com content to other file storage and sharing platforms as soon as possible, as Docs.com will no longer be available after this date.
Although the Docs.com site won't be fully taken offline until December, the ability to use certain features will be scaled back over the coming weeks. If you currently have an account on Docs.com and have used it to upload and share content, please see Important information about Docs.com end of service for a timeline of specific dates on which the service will be increasingly limited in scope and features.
The information below offers details about how to back up your personal content from Docs.com to a file storage or sharing service such as OneDrive. We will update this article as more information becomes available.
What happens to my Docs.com content after it has been migrated from the site?
Content on Docs.com will be migrated to OneDrive, except for any OneNote notebooks that you may have previously published to Docs.com.
A special Docs.com folder will be created on OneDrive for you, where all of your migrated Docs.com content will be stored.
| Supported content types | Migration destination |
|
OneDrive.com |
|
Sway.com |
If you have been using Docs.com with a personal Microsoft Account or a Facebook account, you can back up your existing Docs.com content to any OneDrive account.
If you have been using Docs.com with a Work or School account and have chosen to automatically migrate your content, your Docs.com content will be transferred to OneDrive for that same account.
Caution: After your Docs.com content has been migrated, your Docs.com page will become read-only. You will no longer be able to update or publish content on the Docs.com site, however, you will still be able to download your content or delete your Docs.com account.
What permissions are set for Docs.com content that has been migrated to OneDrive?
When your Docs.com content has been migrated to OneDrive, it will retain the same permissions settings as previously on Docs.com. (For Work or School account users, this is only true if OneDrive for Business external sharing is enabled for your organization. Please check with your Administrator for more information.)
| Original visibility settings on Docs.com | OneDrive permissions after migration |
| Public | Anyone with this link |
| Limited | Anyone with this link |
| Organization only | Only people in your organization |
If external sharing is not enabled in OneDrive for Business for your organization, or if signing in to OneDrive is required to view files, or if the Docs.com sharing link has expired, then the permissions settings will default to being viewable only within your organization (or only to you).
| Original visibility settings on Docs.com | OneDrive permissions after migration |
| Public | Only people in your organization |
| Limited | Only me |
If OneDrive's in-org sharing is not enabled for your organization, then the permissions settings will default to being viewable only by you.
| Original visibility settings on Docs.com | OneDrive permissions after migration |
| Organization only | Only me |
If the original Docs.com content does not have the Allow others to download your document option checked, it will inherit Only me permissions on OneDrive.
Within the Docs.com folder that is created for you on OneDrive as part of your content migration, a separate subfolder will be added to correspond to the original Docs.com visibility settings ("Public", "Limited", and "Organization"). Each file and document in your Docs.com content will be migrated to the corresponding subfolders based on its original visibility setting. The "Public" subfolder will contain any Docs.com content that was previously set to have "Anyone with this link" permissions.
What happens to links to my existing Docs.com content after my content has been migrated?
Even after your Docs.com content has been successfully migrated, any links pointing to existing content on Docs.com that you may have previously shared will continue to work until May 15, 2018. (For the full schedule of important dates, please see Important information about Docs.com end of service.)
Your existing links will be automatically redirected to your migrated Docs.com content on OneDrive or Sway.com, excepts for following cases:
- If Allow others to download your document was not previously enabled for the document or file.
- If OneDrive for Business external sharing is not enabled for your organization.
- If your organization did not previously opt in to the Docs.com service. (Administrators, please see Manage Docs.com use in your organization for details about how to opt in.)
What happens to any Docs.com content that I've embedded on other Web sites?
Any Docs.com content that you have previously embedded on other Web sites or blogs (for example, WordPress) will no longer be rendered properly. Site visitors will need to first click the Open in a new browser tab button to open and view the embedded content from its new source.
Please note that as of December 15, 2017, all previously embedded content will stop being rendered. You will need to manually change all embedded files to load from their new source locations on OneDrive or Sway.com.
How do I start backing up my content from Docs.com?
To begin your Docs.com content migration to OneDrive, please do the following:
- Sign in to com with your Microsoft Account, your Work or School account, or your Facebook account.
- In the yellow bar that appears near the top of your screen, click Migrate.
- On the confirmation page that is displayed, click the Start migration button to begin the backup.
Depending on the amount and size of the content you have stored on Docs.com, the migration process may take several minutes to complete. When the migration has been completed, go to the Docs.com home page to confirm the successful migration of your content.
How can I troubleshoot any content migration failures?
If content migration failed for any of your files or documents, Docs.com will notify you in a yellow bar near the top of your screen. Please click the Check errors button for more details.
If you see an error for any of your files or documents, click the See Error Log button. This opens a list of files and their errors in a separate browser tab. Listed below are our recommendations for each type of error that you may encounter:
| Failure type | Suggested steps |
| OneDrive isn't set up | Using the same Microsoft Account or Work or School account that you use for Docs.com, sign in to OneDrive, return to the error log page, and then click Start migration again. |
| OneDrive storage limit exceeded | Remove any unnecessary files from your OneDrive account to return below your account limit. If you are using a Work or School account, you can also ask your Administrator to increase your OneDrive account limit. After you have done this, click Start migration again. |
| Unknown error | Temporary network issues may be causing the migration of your content to fail. Click Start migration again to try again, or try to initiate the migration again at a later time.If retrying migration doesn't solve the error, your OneDrive account might be frozen. To verify this, manually sign in to OneDrive, return to Docs.com, and then click Start migration again. For more information, see What does it mean when your OneDrive is frozen?. |
Justin Gao
Microsoft (China)