You can make any directory your desktop, including a folder on OneDrive. This handy if you put files on your desktop and you want it backed up. I recommend moving everything to OneDrive first.
- Open Applications > Utilities > Terminal
- Navigate to the Users directory:
cd /Users
Commands are case sensitive.
- Find the name of your home directory, it will be some variation of your first and last name. Rename the Desktop directory to something else
mv /Users/<EM>yourUserName</EM>/Desktop /Users/<EM>yourUserName</EM>/desktopOld
If you had anything on the desktop it will disappear from view (it's still in the renamed directory).
- Navigate to the main OneDrive folder
cd '/Users/<EM>yourUserName</EM>/OneDrive - SAS'
You have to use quotes because of the space in the path.
- Link the OneDrive desktop to the new folder newDesktopName (note: I called the new folder Desktop. I'm not sure it makes a difference, but I didn't test it out).
ln -s '/Users/<EM>yourUserName</EM>/OneDrive - SAS/<EM>newDesktopName</EM>/' ./Desktop
Again, don't forget the quotes. Anything that was in the OneDrive folder should now appear on your Mac desktop. Any files that are created on or moved to the desktop will be saved by OneDrive.
I suspect this would work for the Downloads folder, too. Hope this is useful.