Is it possible to have the directory of files visible locally, without downloading them?

When installing Dropbox just tell it to set up and installed using the 'Online Only' option - then it wont download everything but will create the folder structure for you instead. 

thanks for the response. That is how I set it up but it didn't create the folder structure. Possibly user error . . .

I have the same issue...

Hey Neurad1, do you mean that you selected your files to be online-only, while setting up the Dropbox app, and they’re still available offline? 

What if you right-click on your local Dropbox folder, and opt for the “Make online-only" option? Does that seem to work?

I'm having this same problem. The problem is that I can't see the folders at all--there's nothing in the Dropbox folder on my laptop. How do I get the folders to come up, but without the files in them. Normally it does this automatically. But this time it didn't. 

Hey zedadams, thanks for the nudge here.

Is it possible that you've chosen not to sync your files through the selective sync feature?

You can check that by following these steps here.

Let me know how it goes!

I have the same issue. When installing dropbox on my new computer you only get two choices. Either online only and nothing is visible in you dropbox folder in windows explorer, or selective sync. This makes everything you check visible in windows explorer BUT you HAVE to download it for some reason. 5tb and my harddrive is only 2tb so I am screwed. I just want the folder structure to be visible and then I want to choose which files to be synced manually when I need them. That is how it always worked on my previous computers. There MUST be a way??

HI JohanBang, you you install the Dropbox desktop application, the online-only option is the one you want, since the file structure, folders and names would appear in the Dropbox folder, but no files would be downloaded, thus taking up no room.

After the structure is completed, you can mark folders and files as available offline to download them to your machine.

Selective sync would prevent entire folders from downloading to your machine and you wouldn't see them visible in the Dropbox folder.

Hi Jay and thank you for your quick response. I did reinstall and try that option but not a single folder was visible in the dropbox folder then.

Could you check the selective sync settings in the desktop app just in case to see if the folders were deselected?