Curious about A, B, C, and D drives? Learn what they mean and how to use them effectively with Dropbox in this handy guide! - check it out now!
Forum Discussion
Solved
Smart Sync and removing local files
Hello,
I'm attempting to convert my dropbox folder on my desktop to smart sync, so that I'm not storing any local files on my harddrive in order to save space. Currently, my folder has some local ...
Hi Grant W.1
So first and foremost, Dropbox is a sync solution, not a backup. When sync is turned on, it sync the local file to the cloud. If you delete the local file, it will also destroy the cloud copy. You can directly upload your files for storage using the web client https://www.dropbox.com/home and then that will be stored independently of your local files.
As for the status, if you click on the little dropbox logo in the system tray, it should give you the current sync status of your files.
Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHey tracymcgravy, thanks for nudging us on this thread.
I just wanted to ask if you could send us a screenshot (without any personal info) that shows the space discrepancy you mention?
Looking forward to hearing back from you!
I'm having a similar issue to others in this thread: I am smart syncing files to 'online only' but a large amount of my hard drive space is still occupied. When looking further into it, my computer still registers as is those synced files are fully downloaded on my computer and taking up 100's of MBs or GBs on my hard disk. Any fix for this?
Another issue I'm having is that, every time I open PowerPoint, all .ppt files that are 'online only' get downloaded onto my computer. I changed my Dropbox settings so that PowerPoint is not one of my Connected Apps but the problem continues to occur.
- Daphne
Hey there FeeBeeJub, thanks for joining the topic!
Just to clarify, if you make these files "online only" now that they're local do they appear to randomly become local again without you opening the files? If another app on your computer is monitoring or trying to access the files, this can cause them to be downloaded locally.
When you notice the issue with PowerPoint, do the files get downloaded when you simply open the app or when you access the "Open" menu and start browsing your local files?
If you notice this occurring randomly, I can suggest closing third party apps on your computer one by one until you no longer notice the behaviour.
Sometimes this can be caused by antivirus or security software as these constantly monitor your files, so those apps would be a good place to start.
Let me know what you find!
Hi Daphne,
Thanks for following up. To answer your first question about the "online only" files, they appear as "online only" always. However, my MacBook still indicates that these files are taking up a large amount of my hard drive space. My MacBook will suggest that I remove large files, and all of these files are ones that I clearly have saved on Dropbox and have specifically made "online only". I would be happy to follow-up with screen shots in a direct message.
I notice the PowerPoint issue every time I open the app. When I click on the PowerPoint application, Dropbox begins downloading all .ppt files from "online only" storage onto my local hard drive.
- Daphne
Thank for clarifying that FeeBeeJub!
If you could provide me a few screenshots of the space usage that you see on your Mac for these online only files, that would be very helpful indeed. However, if you'd like to send them privately instead of here on the Community, I'd suggest submitting a ticket with our Support team.
The screenshots that we would need (either here or through a ticket) would be of the space usage that you see from your Dropbox files from the "Documents" section of the storage management window.
Also, for an online only file/folder, please right click and choose "Get info" and send along a screenshot of the size the file is taking on your disk.
Should you choose to submit a ticket for this, you can let me know the ticket number (eg. #1234567) and I can follow up with you there.
For the issue with PowerPoint, it seems that the app is trying to access the files which causes them to be downloaded. The most common cause for this is when the app has a "recents" list and preemptively tries to access the files.
Keep me posted!
