My hard drive is full, will marking files as online-only free remove them from the hard drive?

[Kookoo2]

My hard drive is full. So, I have marked several folders to be On-line only. Will they automatically be removed from my hard drive or, do I need to take some additional steps to free up hard drive space?

[Jay]

Hi @Kookoo2, thanks for posting today!

The files would become online-only, meaning they would free up space on your hard drive, but you'll still see the placeholders there.

If you have any further queries, feel free to message back.

[7ererer]

I actually think I have a problem with this too, my macbook (MacBook Pro 15 inch, 2019)  says it has around 620 gb of system Data. When I went looking for what takes up that space it was the File "Cloud Storage", which in my case only contains the file Dropbox. So I took a look at my Dropbox and it has all in all about 1.38 TB of Data. But most of my Files on Dropbox are online only. I'm really confused as to why it takes up so much space?

Also after reading another post about this problem I checked the box in the settings for it only to show the filesize of the files which are actually on my computer. But it still shows all the filesizes. Could that be the problem?

[Walter]

Hey @7ererer - sorry to hear you're having issues with this. 

If you made sure that the app is 'up to date' and not still syncing in your menu bar, could you check your cache folder and let us know what you find?

[7ererer]

Hey @Walter

The app is up to date, this has been an issue for me for several months, but now it's getting critical. 
I tried to find an erase the cache before, but could only find this greyed out folder if I follow the instruction. And its only 42 Byte, don't know what I'm doing wrong.

 

[Hannah]

Hey @7ererer, I see in your screenshots that some of the folders in your Dropbox folder are marked as "available offline" (green circle with white check mark).

Can you right/control click on  a few of them and choose "make online-only" to see if that frees up any hard drive space?

[7ererer]

Yes it does, but not the amount it should. And also most of the files I have not yet made online are small ones, like textfiles. I tried it with one bigger file and it didn't nearly free up as much space as it should have.

[Megan]

Hey @7ererer, would you mind clarifying the version of the Dropbox app that you're using, along with the app's current syncing status?

You should be able to find the app's version, by hovering your cursor over the little Dropbox icon, next to your WiFi on your menu bar. 

[7ererer]

Syncing is up to date, Version is 196.4.6900

   

[Megan]

Hey @7ererer, thanks for the speedy response! 

Have you tried rebooting your computer, quitting and relaunching the app or even reinstalling it since you first noticed this?

Did you also try to make all of your files online-only, as Hannah suggested?