White circle with green border & checkmark. What does that mean?

[Mikeb00]

The icon that is a white circle with green border & green checkmark, does it mean that the file is available locally, but that it's not stored in the cloud?

In other words, if I've got a Dropbox account on my phone, my laptop, and my desktop, can I designate certain files to be stored locally on those devices, but not stored (and therefore not consuming space) in the Dropbox cloud?

And if so, if I change it in one of those places, will Dropbox upload it then push the new version of the file to the other two devices, again without storing it in the cloud?

[Megan]

Hey @Mikeb00, let's jump right into this! 

Based on what you described, that icon means there is at least one available file in the folder, but no online-only files. There can also be files that are available offline in the folder.

A circle with a green border and a green checkmark means that a file was opened (directly or with a third-party application) and synced. You can see more about this here. 

Now as for the settings on each device, keep in mind that they are separate, and you can choose different settings for each individual device. Meaning that you can have files synced locally on one device, and online-only of another one.

Lastly, you also mentioned that you wish for some content to be stored locally, but to not take up space in your Dropbox account. You can achieve that by ignoring a folder or file by using these steps. 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to let me know!