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See names of online-only folders and files while offline
When I use the Android App, I can view files and folders that are not synched or saved for offline access.
On my new laptop, I don't have enough space to sync all of my dropbox files. I have...
Hey Ann W.6, thanks for reaching out to the Dropbox Community.
We do offer a feature that helps you free up hard drive space, by making your files online-only.
That means you'll only be able to see placeholders of your files in the Dropbox folder and you'll only be able to open them, if you're connected to the internet.
You can see more info about this feature here.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Munro ,
I understand your frustration. The directions are not clear at all and for me, since I want about 25 folders to show up, it is a little more of a pain, but it seems to be working now.
Here is what I did:
1) In the Dropbox Preferences, on the Sync tab (where you set up your selective sync), I changed the Storage of new files to Online-Only. I don't know if this step was required, but I had a computer working the way I wanted and that was set on that computer, so I made the change.
2) I set up Selective sync to sync everything.
3) In explorer, everything now shows with a little cloud next to it, meaning it is online only. This is a different behavior than I had on my old Windows 10 machine before. On Win 10, everything got a green check mark at this point once synching was finished.
4) I have started to right-click each folder that I want to be available offline, and chose the Dropbox > Make available offline option. They then get a green check mark once everything downloads.
I hope this helps.
If someone knows whether or not I need to leave the New files default at Online-only, I'd really appreciate knowing that.
Thanks Ann, I really appreciate the effort to help.
I had problems finding my Dropbox Preferences actually. If I open the Dropbox app on my PC it simply brings up a windows explorer open on the Dropbox folder and I can't find a Preferences option. I couldn't find it on the webpage either.
Then I thought, maybe you mean when you install Dropbox, so I am currently uninstalling and reinstalling it, following your instructions and synchronising all folders.
I realised there was a typo in my previous post - I think most people want majority ONLINE-only with some crucial folders available offline as well.
It still seems very clunky and unintuitive but hopefully I will get there.
Many thanks
Munro
I had another idea, that Selective Sync is a red herring for us and we shouldn't use it at all - if we just select the recommended "Online-only" when we install Dropbox, I bet we will still have the option to right click - "Make available offline" on the folders we want to.
I have uninstalled Dropbox, restarted the computer, reinstalled Dropbox using this but it is still currently just showing me the two folders I had previously selected for Selective sync for the previous installation. There must have been a Cache I needed to clear as well. Oh well, this is all rather frustrating but I'm sure I'll get past it somehow.
Try and go into your selective sync and check the box that checks every folder. This effectively turns selective sync off. As long as you have the "all new files online only " option picked, this seems to be what we need. And yes, all folders on mine now show and all have the option to make available offline.
Thank you, yes, mine is working now too, horrah. I think after I made the Dropbox folder Online-only, they all showed up after a while and I have been able to select a few folders to "Make available offline".
I'm still not sure where to get to my Selective Sync settings once it's installed - I'm on Windows 11 - but I don't need to now. I don't personally think the "All new files online only" option is relevant, at least it didn't seem to be for me.
All's well that ends well
Munro
