Learn how to make the most out of the Dropbox Community here 💙.
Forum Discussion
Solved
Could you clarify the difference between Online Only and Local content?
Hi, I'm sure this has been covered, but I feel I need to ask the question myself for added clarity.
I was confused about the difference between online only and local only, but if one could humour m...
Correct on all counts with one addition; when you open an Online-only file and Dropbox pulls it local, it remains a local file until you again mark it as Online-only.
Rich
Super User II
Super User IICorrect on all counts with one addition; when you open an Online-only file and Dropbox pulls it local, it remains a local file until you again mark it as Online-only.
Rich, I have the Pro Version for my company for Dropbox. Even though I checked Online for many folders/files, When i click About My Mac, Go to Storage. It shows a tremendous amount of storage. When i click manage. I shows my the larger files being stored. These files Documents are taking up 832gig of local storage. Many of these are MXF Files of 10gigs each. is there a reason why they are sitting here locally as well ?
- Rich
Evan M. wrote:
Even though I checked Online for many folders/files, When i click About My Mac, Go to Storage. It shows a tremendous amount of storage. ... is there a reason why they are sitting here locally as well ?
If you've marked them as Online-only, then they're not stored local. Your Mac is just reporting them as such in error. Refer to the following thread (it's a long one) and be sure to read the marked solution.
Does this mean that if I choose online only, I have to work from the Dropbox folder on the laptop and not in my Documents folder?
- Daphne
Dropbox Staff
Thanks for joining the thread here miniseb!
For your files to sync to your account, you need to work on the file within the Dropbox folder. If you make changes to files outside of the Dropbox folder, these won't be saved to your account.
If you have made a file "Online only" with Smart Sync, to work on the file you'll open it as you would normally (eg. double click) which will sync the file locally so it can be opened and edited.
I hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions!
