files still appear in 'my files' after I've moved them

Hello,

Any chance you might mean "Home" instead of "My Files"?

This is not normal behavior for "My Files", but for "Home", it is, as it serves as a "recent files" records, not the actual files being there or not still. And files on "Home" tab cannot be removed. I would suggest that you send a feedback so product team can hear your concern https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/

But please let me know if you do mean "My files".

Hello Rabhya Dewshi,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum!

I realize that you've encountered a problem with “My files” always shows all files in the account. I truly understand your confusion. Let me assist you further.

In OneDrive, “My files” is the view of everything in your OneDrive account. Moving a file into any folder (including Personal Vault) doesn’t make it “leave” My files, it only changes where it lives inside that same library.

So, if you’re seeing a long list there, it can be because:

• you’re looking at a flat list (e.g., sorted by Modified), or
• you’re using an aggregated “My files” feed in Microsoft 365 that surfaces items you own, regardless of folder, or
• those items are appearing as recent/suggested rather than “root-level not filed”.

1. First, confirm the files really are in the right folder (not duplicates)

In OneDrive (web or app), pick one “offending” file and check its location/path (usually via Details / Info panel).

If the path shows your intended folder (or Personal Vault), the filing is already correct, it’s just being surfaced in Home/My files. If you find duplicates, sometimes you’ll have:

• one copy in the correct folder, and
• another copy still sitting at the top level (or elsewhere) because it was copied instead of moved, or because of a sync conflict on Mac.

In that case, the “fix” is simply: keep the correctly filed one and remove/archive the stray duplicate.

2. Use folder views for “tidy overview” (instead of Home)

Because Home is inherently a feed, use these instead for organization:

• My files > Folder navigation (left tree) to browse your structure
• Pin/Favorite key folders (so you always land in an organized view)
• Consider creating a top-level folder structure like Clients / Projects / Admin / Vault-Staging so “My files” browsing is fast even when it lists everything.

(These are workflow tips rather than a “setting,” because Home isn’t designed to be a clean folder dashboard.)

3. Reduce confidential items appearing in “Home/Recent”

Important distinction: Moving to Personal Vault protects access, but it may not prevent the filename from appearing in a recent list/feed if it was opened recently (the feed is about activity).

Practical ways to reduce exposure:

• Open sensitive files from inside Personal Vault directly, rather than from Home/Recent (so you don’t keep “refreshing” them in recents).
• If your Office apps (Word/Excel/PowerPoint on Mac) are showing sensitive files in Recent, clear the recent list there (that’s separate from OneDrive’s storage).
• Rename highly sensitive files to non-revealing filenames (e.g., avoid customer names in the filename) so even if surfaced, it’s less exposing.

If your goal is “never show in Home,” I want to set expectations: Home is fundamentally activity-based, so the only reliable way is to avoid interacting with those files from surfaces that generate recents.

4. If the issue is actually Mac sync lag/conflicts (files “reappear”)

If files you moved keep coming back to the wrong place, that’s more like a sync/conflict behavior. Typical quick checks on macOS:

• Make sure OneDrive sync is healthy (OneDrive menu bar cloud icon > status)
• Look for conflict copies (often named like “(1)” or “conflicted copy)”)
• Prefer moving/organizing from OneDrive on the web once to “force” the canonical location, then let the Mac sync catch up.

Those are general troubleshooting patterns; if you tell me exactly where you’re seeing the messy list, I can assist better.

I hope this will help with your situation. Please feel free to reach back if you have further update or more questions.

Best Regards,

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In OneDrive, “My files” always shows all files in the account, regardless of which folders they’re in. Moving a file into a folder (including Personal Vault) does not remove it from “My files”; it just changes its location within that list.

Key points for the described behavior:

1. Files in Personal Vault
   • Personal Vault is a special secure folder inside OneDrive. It appears as a shortcut in the file list rather than as a normal folder.
   • Items stored in Personal Vault:
     • Are still part of the OneDrive “My files” area (they haven’t left OneDrive, only moved into a protected sublocation).
     • Do not appear in OneDrive search results for privacy.
   • Personal Vault files cannot be shared; to share them, they must be moved out of the Vault first.
2. Why files still show in “My files”
   • “My files” is a top-level view of all content in OneDrive, including:
     • Regular folders
     • Personal Vault (shown as a shortcut)
   • Moving files into folders (or into Personal Vault) does not hide them from “My files”; it only changes their folder path.
3. How to confirm files are in the right place
   • Open OneDrive (web or app) and:
     • Navigate to the folder or Personal Vault where the file was moved.
     • Verify the file appears there.
   • In the “My files” view, check the file’s folder path/location column (if available) to confirm it is filed under the intended folder or Personal Vault.
4. Confidential files and visibility
   • Confidential files moved into Personal Vault are protected by:
     • Two-step verification to open the Vault.
     • Additional encryption and automatic locking.
   • They may still appear as entries in the overall file list, but their contents are protected and they are excluded from search results.

If the goal is to reduce clutter, use folders (including Personal Vault for sensitive items) and rely on folder navigation rather than the flat “My files” list when organizing or browsing.

References:

• Protect your OneDrive files in Personal Vault
• Find lost or missing files in OneDrive