Hey! I've had a problem few weeks now. Even I've tried to put almost everything online only -mode, nothing happens in the hard drive storage. Any ideas what could be wrong? Last month everything worked like a charm. Thanks!

Hey there Henkka, thanks for using Dropbox and welcome aboard!If your app is showing 'up to date' in your menu bar/system tray and you've set your Dropbox files to be 'Online Only' through the Smart Sync feature, then this space might be taken up by your cache folder.Let me know if that's not the case! Moderator note: If you're using a Mac, and online-only files still take up space on your device, you might need to check this Help Center article too.

Online only not working | The Dropbox Community

17 Replies

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Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
5 years ago
Hey there Henkka, thanks for using Dropbox and welcome aboard!

If your app is showing 'up to date' in your menu bar/system tray and you've set your Dropbox files to be 'Online Only' through the Smart Sync feature, then this space might be taken up by your cache folder.

Let me know if that's not the case!

Moderator note: If you're using a Mac, and online-only files still take up space on your device, you might need to check this Help Center article too.
Henkka
New member | Level 2
5 years ago
Thanks, have to keep that cache in mind and check again in few days!
Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
5 years ago
Let me know if anything else comes up in the meantime Henkka!
kayte
New member | Level 2
4 years ago
Why are online only files taking up space in documents (manage storage on my iMac).

I checked the dropbox cache but they are not stored there.
Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
4 years ago
Hey kayte, happy Wednesday!

Have you taken a look at the troubleshooting steps shown here?

Provided you have, let me know if you've turned Smart Sync update for Mac on.

Keep me posted!
2579FT
Explorer | Level 3
4 years ago
I am still having this problem. All files set to online only and sync is up to date (these files have been set to online only for at least a year). When I get info on one of the files that is online only, it says 'zero bytes on disk' however in MacOS Manage Storage it shows all these online files (~175GB) are taking up my hard disk space.

I followed the instructions for emptying the cache files. No change. Any other ideas?

Thank you.
markhutch
Helpful | Level 5
3 years ago
I think you'll still see files on your drive but (on my mac) they're tagged as online-only.

I believe the way it works is that if you try to access that file from your system, it will download the file and then open it.

The problem I have found is that there doesn't appear to be any way of unsetting that. I've changed the preferences to not have ANY folders or files online-only and nothing changes.

For this and a few other reasons, I'm bailing out of Dropbox after being with them since their very early days. It just doesn't seem reliable any more. Which is a shame. Anyway, hope the above (if my understanding is correct of this feature) will explain why you have those files still present.
janeclimber
New member | Level 2
3 years ago
Online only not working. I am using a mac. I don't even see the option "make it online only" when I right click on my mac laptop.
Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 years ago
Hi janeclimber, what version of Mac OS are you running on your device?

What options do you see when right clicking a file?
bdoman
Explorer | Level 3
3 years ago
I'm also having an issue wherein settings folders to Online Only seems to have no effect. The size of my cache is very small. Where should I be looking to see the "Up to Date" message?