You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
Forum Discussion
"Make online only" option is missing, but "make available offline" option is available
Hi,
I am struggling to make files "online only" on my laptop running in Windows 11 Pro (Version 10.0.22000 Build 22000). I have tried installing the Dropbox App with (with help from IT department) and without admin rights, both leading to the same issue that I am required to sync selected folders in my Dropbox Plus account. I was hoping to be able to view all the files in Dropbox and these files are all available in "online only" mode. Right now I am forced to sync some folders which are smaller in size such that they will not take up too much space on my laptop.
When I right click a file, which I had hoped to make it online only, Windows File Explorer's Dropbox menu gave me the following options:
> Share...
> Send for signature
> View in Dropbox
> Copy Dropbox link
> Make available offline
> Version history
> Send with Dropbox Transfer
There is no "make online only" option available and yet the file has obviously been synced and is occupying disk space in my laptop.
This issue only occurs on my work laptop in Windows 11 Pro. The "make online only" option is working fine on my mac at home, and my previous work laptop which ran in Windows 10.
How can I activate the "make online only" functionality in Windows? Any idea how to resolve this issue?
Cheers
- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi wearpants, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Just to check, the other devices, is the Dropbox desktop application installed with admin privileges which gives more context menu options?
This will help me to assist further!
Hi Jay
Thanks for the prompt response. For the previous systems where "make online files" function are working, I installed Dropbox App on my mac using admin account but not on my company's laptop in Windows 10.
This time on Windows 11 Pro, I first installed Dropbox without admin right before finding the "make online files" function is not working. Then I asked IT to help me reinstall the Dropbox App, as I could see the warning "Please reinstall Dropbox to free up hard drive space" in Sync History within Dropbox App. Nothing seems to have changed after reinstallation using IT's admin account though. This warning message still remains at the top of Sync History to this point.
Note that when IT installed Dropbox App for me, they remote connected to my laptop and enter their IT admin account name and password when the admin right requirement was prompted by Windows. This is pretty standard corporate IT procedure though so this note might not be useful.
- Jay
If the context menu item is still missing, then there could be something else device-specific that is affecting its appearance. If the Dropbox desktop application is installed with admin privileges, then all options should be available.
Is it possible there are some other security measures which could prevent the option from loading. Although this is old, could you try the suggestions in this thread on how to resolve this.
