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Steve A.13's avatar
Steve A.13
Helpful | Level 7
2 years ago

What happens to an online-only file after I access it?

I have several large files set as online-only. As I understand it, that means that although the files appear to be on my hard drive, they are only stored on Dropbox, and if I attempt to open one of these files, it will be downloaded from Dropbox onto my hard drive so I can work with it.

 

My question is, after I open a file and it gets stored locally, when is the file removed from my hard drive so it is online-only again? Do I have to right-click on the file again and specify that it should be online-only?

 

Thanks!

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  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    2 years ago

    Hey Steve A.13, just wanted to jump in here and confirm that once you've finished working on a file that's available offline, if you want it to go back to online-only, you need to right-click on it and choose to do it manually.

  • AAAAZ's avatar
    AAAAZ
    Explorer | Level 3
    2 years ago

    Hi, Steve A.13,

    If you want to make files online only as you expected, you can right-click the file and set it online only manually.

     

    Best Regards,

    AAAAZ

    • Steve A.13's avatar
      Steve A.13
      Helpful | Level 7
      2 years ago

      I know how to make them online-only. My question is do I need to repeat this after accessing the file (i.e., after the file gets downloaded for use when it was already marked as online-only).

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        2 years ago

        Hi Steve A.13, are you running a Windows or a Mac device? If the latter, is the Dropbox folder located in the CloudStorage folder?

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