Windows 10's Photos app is losing video project sync with OneDrive

Photos app Windows 10 (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

Video projects in the Photos app won't sync metadata through OneDrive after January 10, 2020.
The Photos app will still be able to store metadata locally.
Users are encouraged to save their projects now to not lose any data.

The Video Editor within the Windows 10 Photos app is losing the ability to sync in-progress video projects through OneDrive (via Windows Latest). The app currently can store metadata for video projects on the cloud and sync data across devices. Microsoft outlines the change in a recent blog post (opens in new tab) and encourages users to save any projects that are currently in progress.

In order for video projects to sync across devices, metadata currently syncs through OneDrive. Data such as the order of clips, music timing, and text for title cards are required to make sure a video project looks the same on different devices. Following the removal of this feature, users won't be able to sync this type of data across devices. Additionally, this data will be deleted on January 10, 2020 so any projects that already have this data synced will lose their metadata.

Microsoft encourages people to turn off sync now and to make sure the latest version of video projects are stored locally on machines that people plan to edit on.

Syncing video projects to OneDrive is going away as of January 10th, 2020. We recommend turning off sync now to make sure you have the latest version on this PC.

Microsoft also announced a new way to back up video project files.

Select See more within a video project.
Select Back up project.

Backups can be imported to restore projects to a previous state.

Microsoft emphasizes that data deleted from video projects cannot be recovered. If you use the video project sync feature, you should back up anything you'd like to keep as soon as possible.

Thoughts on using the Photos app on Windows 10 as a video editor

Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com (opens in new tab).

15 Comments

Okay, but... why?
You know... It's Microsoft's Indecisiveness at its finest, giveth then down the road taketh.
They should scrap the whole app and bring back old photo viewer.
I disagree, I prefer the newer one over the older one
you can still get the old photo viewer, but I do agree with you. the photo app is bloated
Does anyone actually use video editing in photo app?
This is step one probably. The next will be removing the video editor altogether Can't they just released a rehashed Windows Live Essentials in the store with some updated UI with Gallery, Mail and Calendar of the glory days. Microsoft basically nerfed OneDrive sync so hard that only files and notebooks sync with it. All the other hooks are gone. Their rule is these days 'is this used for enterprise? If yes, then keep it. Otherwise killkillkill
Seems like Microsoft is evaluating both consumer and enterprise features without distinction. There is no way consumer features will evolve under this system. No wonder many people prefer to run their personal computing in Apple or Google's environments.
Yeah. Same for me. My work life is in Office365, OneDrive, Visual Studio, SQL, SharePoint, Teams etc My personal life is on iCloud because at home I use my iPadPro and iPhone the most. If I occasionally need something when on my gamePC I fire up chrome and have acces to mails, notes, reminders, photos, music etc. At home Windows is just the framework to run my games and game launchers. It used to be different :D
What are the other (former) hooks you're referring to?
Groove being able to stream music you kept in OneDrive... And syncing the playlists between devices... I miss this so much.
"Their rule is these days"? It has always been that way. The Enterprise is Microsoft's strength. None of their consumer offerings succeeded. Don't mention Xbox, that is not a consumer product either. Gamers are Uber-Nerds, not the general population. Also, most people tend to forget about the other side of this equation. Enterprise does not want to get their serious business solutions from a company that is distracted by watches and music services. Hence, Apple is not an Enterprise solution provider. But IBM and Microsoft and Oracle are. It is not a coincidence that none of them have any consumer products.
Yeah, or they should just develop a UWP version of Movie Maker instead. At least they can really put more video editing features on that app without having to make Photo app bloated, its functionality should be limited with its name, photos. Editing photos should be the only advance feature of it and it doesn't need to be like Lightroom-like features, just enough for most people. With the popularity of vlogs, YouTube, and game streaming (not live), Microsoft is missing alot to provide an essential software for these markets for their Windows users. Not everybody needs a professional-grade video editor like Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas Pro, DaVinci Resolve, etc. The built-in apps should be fine for most people just like how iMovie is on macOS that is enjoyed by its users. There is a reason why Macs are popular among these YouTubers and aspiring social media celebrities alike. Microsoft is all about productivity they said? So why not provide it?
OMG CORTANAZ DEAD!! - Oh, sorry. I should really read the title first before commenting.
Nothing else like progress read good news ?

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