How can I make my files online-only on my new computers?

I want to make all my dropbox files online only. Every time I view a file it downloads to my hard drive. How can I stop this, and make ALL files online only permanantly?

Hi Kneth - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Could you please clarify your device's OS version, and the version and status of the Dropbox desktop app as shown in your system tray/menu bar? 

Hello Walter,

Thank you for your response.

My device's OS:

Edition: Windows 11 Home

Version: 23H2

OS Build: 22631.4391

Dropbox version: 212.3.5649

Thank you and best regards,

Kneth

Hi Kneth! Hope it’s OK if I jump in. 

Do you mean that you’d like to open the files on your desktop app and make sure they’re not made available offline even then? 

If yes, I’m afraid that’s not possible, as the Dropbox app needs to download the content of the file first for you to access it on your device. When you don’t need the file downloaded/offline anymore, you can always make it online-only again. 

If I’ve misunderstood something, please let me know.

Hi Nancy!

Thank you very much for your response. Yes, you have indeed answered my question.

How this issue came up was, once I opened a file on my PC and a couple of days after, when I was away from home I wanted to access that same file again, on my phone - then I realised it was missing.

On my return, I realised it was not 'online' and I had to do it manually. Although I had been using Dropbox for many years, this was the first time I experienced this. Hence I thought I was doing something wrong.

What if I uninstalled the Dropbox app on my PC, and accessed Dropbox from my PC via the browser? Will this solve the issue?

Thank you and best regards,

Kneth

When saying the file wasn't online, you mean on www.dropbox.com, correct?

You could access your Dropbox account directly from your web account instead, but the desktop app should still be syncing files normally to the rest of your devices, no matter if they’re set as online-only or available offline (these settings are mostly in place to save up hard drive space). 

You mentioned above that you’re now running this app version on your Dropbox app: 212.3.5649. Please note that this is the beta/experimental app version and issues may occur from time to time. 

Can you switch early releases off from this page and then install the latest stable app version from this link? Let me know if the Dropbox app shows as up to date after that.

Hi Nancy!

I followed your instructions.

Now my Dropbox version is 211.4.6008 and it shows Up to Date.

But, Dropbox still creates a folder on my PC C:\Users\kneth\Dropbox and shows all the files not in Folders at Dropbox.com.

I have selected Preferences > Sync > Online-only.

Selective Sync shows only Folders, which I have unselected. But Files out of folders cannot be selected/unselected as they are not shown.

Thank you and best regards,

Kneth

Could you send us a screenshot of what's troubling you so that we can have a visual too Kneth?