SSMS creating another "My Documents" folder

SSMS insists on creating the following folders every time it is run:

  • %USERPROFILE%\Documents
  • %USERPROFILE%\Documents\SQL Server Management Studio

where %USERPROFILE% is an environment variable, with mine being C:\users\krusenc
.

In File Manager (AKA - Windows Explorer), I set the location for my documents to be on my OneDrive, like:
image

And everything works fine. Until … Another program decides that it will use %USERPROFILE%\Documents as the location for “my documents”. Some programs will not find the %USERPROFILE%\Documents and then adjust the open or save dialog to a valid location. This is fine (and preferred). While others (like SSMS) will create the “missing” subfolders as it deems necessary.
When the %USERPROFILE%\Documents directory does exist, some programs will default to that folder.

A couple of issues arise:

  1. The files in %USERPROFILE%\Documents aren’t backed up to the cloud or available on other devices that have access to OneDrive.

  2. It’s hard to keep straight which location (under the c:\users\username folder vs the OneDrive folder) has the files I need.

Using File Manger and browsing to my profile, I see I have a folder named “Documents” (generic folder icon), as well as one named “Documents” (identical name, but with a “library” type icon).

image

The yellow Documents folder (dated 9/1/2021) has just a single sub-folder (SSMS), with no files in it. I can delete the SSMS sub folder (leaving “Documents” empty), but cannot delete the Documents folder.

Anyone run into issues with moving the location of your “Documents” folder, from the default location of %USERPROFILE%\Documents ?

Perhaps this method would work better?

https://www.itprotoday.com/cloud-storage/how-redirect-or-sync-folders-onedrive