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Cloud Upload and Download
Important: Beginning October 1, 2026, Cloud Saving will no longer be supported on Minecraft Education versions earlier than 26.32. Users running older versions will encounter errors when attempting to upload, download, or sync worlds. To continue using Cloud Saving, please update to version 26.32 or later.
Worlds are automatically saved to OneDrive upon closing the world as a backup. When the first world is uploaded, a new folder in the user’s OneDrive is created called “Minecraft Education". To ensure you have OneDrive attached to your account, see the troubleshooting guide below.
Feature walkthrough video:
Basic flow of feature:
- User saves a Minecraft Education world
- Application saves world to local device and users OneDrive
- Icon shows in My Worlds as a solid white cloud
- User visits My Worlds
- Application displays worlds with icons indicating state of backup
- If the user clicks Play on a world from My Worlds with the solid cloud icon, the application opens to play and after it is saved, it will again save locally and to OneDrive.
- If the user clicks Play on a world from My Worlds with the empty cloud icon, the application first downloads the world before opening to play.
Requirements
- Please note OneDrive access requires additional Microsoft licensing. Please check with your IT Administrator to confirm if you have access to this feature.
- User accounts must have an allowed connection to OneDrive in place.
- Go to https://portal.office.com/account#subscriptions with your work or school account.
- Verify that any license including OneDrive is shown.
- Users should have Minecraft Education installed on their device.
- IT Admins will need to ensure that all recommended URLs are unblocked and computers can communicate with OneDrive online. Below are the cloud specific URLs:
- https://graph.microsoft.com
- https://*.sharepoint.com
- The device must be connected to the internet when a world is saved, to back up to the cloud.
How to upload a world to OneDrive
- Open Minecraft Education and log in with your school or work account. Select the Play button.
- Choose an existing world to play from the View My Worlds collection. You can also import and launch a new world from the Library Collection.
- Select a world in your My Worlds collection and then select Play.
- After you finish your time in your world, hit Esc and then click Save & Exit.
This will start your world upload to OneDrive.
How to download a world from the cloud
- In Minecraft Education, go to My Worlds
- Select the world you want to download
- Select Download to sync the file to your device.
Note: The downloaded file will continue to backup to the same location if the same login is used and if the world has been saved two or more times from the original device.
How to download a previous version of a world
- In Minecraft Education, go to Settings > Cloud Storage
- Select the OneDrive button to see your worlds in the cloud.
- View ‘version history’.
- Select Restore on the version from the timeframe which you want to recover your world.
- Download and open the world in Minecraft Education.
- Once you save and exit, this version will be the latest file version for this file.
FAQs
If my world is deleted from my device, will it be deleted from OneDrive?
No. If a Minecraft Education world is deleted from any device, it can be downloaded to any device and recovered from OneDrive.
What happens if I delete a world from the “Minecraft Education Edition” OneDrive folder?
If you delete a world file from the OneDrive account you login with, and it is still on the device you last used it on, you can open it from that device. When you exit it on that device, it will save to the cloud (unless you have cloud backup turned off).
Only delete files on OneDrive if you or everyone you've shared it with no longer needs it.
Will worlds I create on one device be available on another device?
Worlds uploaded to the same Microsoft account OneDrive folder can be downloaded on other devices. If the world has been saved two or more times from the original device, the world will continue to back up to the original file on OneDrive. If the world was originally saved once, then opened on another device, the world will be saved as a copy.
My device was reset and I lost everything! Is there an easy way to restore all of my worlds at one time?
Any of the worlds that were saved since using version 1.21 with the cloud backup feature should be saved on OneDrive. Currently, there is no way to restore all the worlds to your device at the same time. To restore a world to a device, you can individually download each world as needed.
If the user is logged in to a computer with a shared login, but uses their school credentials to login to Minecraft Education, where will the world file get saved to?
The account used for the Minecraft Education login is the OneDrive account to which the world file will be saved.
What’s the largest world size auto-save to cloud can support?
The maximum file size of the exported world allowed to be uploaded to OneDrive is currently 250MB. If you need to back up files 250MB or larger, you can export the file manually and save it to OneDrive.
What happens if I rename a world from OneDrive or my device?
If you rename a world file on your device or on OneDrive, the world will continue to sync. To stay organized, we recommend the file names match.
Can I rename or move the OneDrive folder?
We discourage changing or moving your Minecraft Education Edition cloud back up folder. If you rename the OneDrive folder, your world files will continue to upload to that folder. Newly created worlds will be uploaded to a new “Minecraft Education” folder.
If you move the OneDrive folder, newly created worlds will upload to a new "Minecraft Education" folder.
What happens if I download a world from the cloud to a version of Minecraft Education which is older than the one it was last saved on?
A world cannot be opened with a version of Minecraft Education which is older than the one it was last saved on. Worlds created in Minecraft cannot be used in a version prior.
If a friend shares their OneDrive world with me, will my changes in the world be saved to their world?
No, once you open a world file from another user’s OneDrive, it will become your own copy and changes from that point will be backed up only to your user account OneDrive folder.
Can anyone see my cloud saved world files?
No, world files are stored just within the user’s account. Only those you choose to share the link with can make a copy of that world.
Can Minecraft Education save to a different cloud storage location, other than OneDrive?
Currently, OneDrive is the only supported cloud storage location.
Can I turn off cloud backups?
Yes, you can go into Settings/Cloud Storage and toggle off “Enable world backups to OneDrive”.
What if my user account or Minecraft Education license tenant doesn’t have an associated OneDrive account?
You can disable cloud backups. Before you do so, check by going to Sign in - Microsoft OneDrive (live.com)
Additional Notes
- No special characters (" * : < > ? / \ |) or punctuation should be used in world titles. If there are restricted characters, they will be replaced automatically stripped from the file name.
- If you open a world from a file picker on your device or from OneDrive in the cloud, the world will automatically generate a new copy on your device but will continue syncing to the original file on OneDrive.
- Related article: Import, Export, and Manage Worlds – Minecraft Education
Troubleshooting Upload Errors
If you got this error when you closed your world:
Cloud access problem
You don't have access to cloud storage. Check your OneDrive settings if you'd like to keep your world files backed up and synchronized across devices.
Error Code: 403x5
Cloud access problem
You don’t have access to cloud storage. Check your OneDrive settings.
Error code: 401
Here are some steps you can take to figure out the issue:
- Confirm you are connected to the internet.
- Ensure you're running the latest version of Minecraft Education
- Confirm you have OneDrive licensed and enabled on the account you logged into Minecraft Education with.
- Go to https://portal.office.com/account#subscriptions
- Verify that any license including OneDrive is shown.
- Confirm your OneDrive is not full
- Ask your IT Administrator to ensure that all recommended URLs are unblocked.
If you got this error when you closed your world:
Upload failed
Something went wrong when uploading your world to the cloud.
Error code: 400
Here are some steps you can take to resolve this issue:
- Try again in case your internet was interrupted.
- Ensure you're running the latest version of Minecraft Education
- Confirm you have OneDrive licensed & enabled on the account you logged into Minecraft Education with.
- Go to https://portal.office.com/account#subscriptions
- Verify that any license including OneDrive is shown.
- Ask a system administrator to check your OneDrive settings.
If you got this error when you closed your world:
Your upload didn’t make it to the cloud.
Your OneDrive doesn’t have enough room for this world.
Here are some steps you can take to resolve this issue:
- Remove large files from your OneDrive
- In Minecraft Education, go to Settings | Cloud Storage
- Click the OneDrive button to see your worlds in the cloud.
- Review your world files and determine if any should be removed
- Look at your other OneDrive files to see if any large files could be deleted from the cloud to free up space.
- Back up your world another way
- Talk to a system administrator about getting more space on your OneDrive.
Troubleshooting Download & Sync Errors
If you got this error when you closed your world:
You don’t have permission to download this file
Here are some steps you can take to resolve this issue:
- Confirm you have OneDrive enabled on the account you logged into Minecraft Education with.
- Go to https://portal.office.com/account#subscriptions
- Verify that any license including OneDrive is shown.
- Ask a system administrator to check your OneDrive settings.
If you got this error when you closed your world:
World download failed
Your device is out of space!
Error code: 5x4
Here are some steps you can take to resolve this issue:
- Delete any unnecessary files or applications on your device
- Double check with your IT Admin or owner of the device before doing so
- Restart the device
If you have any issues, or cannot locate your worlds via these methods, please contact support or post a thread in the “Technical Support” area of the forums.