How to back up your Microsoft Lumia to OneDrive

Backing up your Microsoft Lumia is quick and easy to do – and means your important data is always protected should the worst happen to your phone! Read on to see how to carry out the backup and check that it's working.

Conveniently, your Microsoft Lumia phone has as built-in backup feature that will automatically save your photos, videos, accounts and other personal data to OneDrive – Microsoft's own cloud storage service.

In this guide, we'll show you exactly how to get it up and running – read on to find out how.

Step 1: Sign in to your Microsoft Account

As with any online backup, it all starts with an account. Lumia devices (and OneDrive itself) make use of a Microsoft account.

The first thing to do, then, is ensure your device is signed in to a Microsoft account. You'll have been asked to do this when you first set up the phone – so you're likely to be signed in already. If for any reason you aren't, then you can sign in to one now in your phone's settings.

The precise steps required vary depending on whether you're using a Windows 10 phone (including the Lumia 550, 640, 650 and 950)or a Windows Phone 8 or 8.1 device (including the Lumia 530/535, 630/635, 730, 830 and 930).

To check your account or sign in on a Windows 10 phone:

1. Open up Settings.
2. Click on Accounts.
3. Click on Your email and accounts.
4. At the top of this page it will either show you the Microsoft account you're currently signed in to, or give you the option to sign in to one.

To check your account or sign in on a Windows 8 or 8.1 phone:

1. Open up Settings.
2. Click on Email + accounts.
3. Look for 'Microsoft Account'.
4. If there isn't a Microsoft account listed, press the Add account button and sign in to your account.

Step 2: Turn On Backup

Once you're signed in to a Microsoft account, you'll next want to make sure that automatic backups are activated on your phone to ensure that your photos, texts and app data are saved to OneDrive and can be restored if needed.

Again, the exact process varies depending on which version of Windows your phone uses. Windows 10 Mobile is a bit disjointed when it comes to backup, so there are a few different things we'll need to check – whereas Windows Phone 8 or 8.1 keeps all their backup settings in one place.

Windows Mobile 10

To turn on automatic picture backup on a Windows 10 phone:

1. Open up OneDrive.
2. Tap on the menu button in the top-left corner.
3. Now tap the settings icon in the top-right corner.
4. Tap on Camera upload.
5. Make sure that this is turned on.

To turn on text message backup:

1. Open up Settings.
2. Click on System.
3. Click on Messaging.
4. Under 'History and sync', ensure Sync messages between devices is turned on. Beneath this, you can specify how long you want to keep your backups for.

To turn on app and settings backup:

1. Open up Settings.
2. Click on Update & security.
3. Click on Backup.
4. Make sure both options for are turned on for backing up apps and settings.
5. Tap on More options at the bottom and the press backup now to get a backup started.

Windows Phone 8 or 8.1

To turn on backup for a Windows Phone 8 or 8.1 device:

1. Open up Settings.
2. Tap on backup.
3. Make sure all three options are turned on for photos, texts and apps.
4. Press the backup now option within each section to start a backup.

What about contacts?

Contacts are vitally important – after all, keeping you in touch with friends and family is perhaps the most important thing your smartphone does!

It's odd, then, that Lumia phones don't include your contacts in their usual backup process. Instead, your contacts should be automatically synced with your Microsoft account.

When you sign in to a Microsoft account the phone should simply upload all your contacts and keep them in sync across all of your Windows devices.

There are no options to select or change for this: you just have to hope your phone does it correctly! You can, however, check if it's working by following the steps in the next section.

Step 3: Check your backups

So, now that you've got all these bits and pieces backing up to your OneDrive through your Microsoft account, the next thing you'll want to do is actually check that it's worked!

To do so, you'll need access to a device with a web browser. From there, there are three things we can check to ensure the backup is working:

Check your contacts

To see if your contacts are backing up and syncing correctly:

1. Go to https://people.live.com/.
2. Sign in to your Microsoft account.
3. Scroll through the list in the column on the left-hand side of the page to check your contacts.

Check your photos

To see if your photos are backing up correctly:

1. Go to https://onedrive.com/
2. Sign in to your Microsoft account.
3. Go into the Pictures folder.
4. Then go into the Camera Roll folder.
5. Check your photos are all displayed correctly.

Check your device backups

To see if your device and app settings and texts are backing up correctly:

1. Go to https://onedrive.live.com/options/DeviceBackups
2. Sign in to your Microsoft account.
3. Check you have a recent backup by looking at the backup date.

And there you have it – the definitive guide to backing up your Lumia to your OneDrive account! If the steps above are giving you any trouble, drop us a line in the comments and we'll do our best to help.