What happens to an online-only file after I access it?

[Steve A.13]

I have several large files set as online-only. As I understand it, that means that although the files appear to be on my hard drive, they are only stored on Dropbox, and if I attempt to open one of these files, it will be downloaded from Dropbox onto my hard drive so I can work with it.

My question is, after I open a file and it gets stored locally, when is the file removed from my hard drive so it is online-only again? Do I have to right-click on the file again and specify that it should be online-only?

Thanks!

[AAAAZ]

Hi, Steve A.13,

If you want to make files online only as you expected, you can right-click the file and set it online only manually.

Best Regards,

AAAAZ

[Steve A.13]

I know how to make them online-only. My question is do I need to repeat this after accessing the file (i.e., after the file gets downloaded for use when it was already marked as online-only).

[Jay]

Hi @Steve A.13, are you running a Windows or a Mac device? If the latter, is the Dropbox folder located in the CloudStorage folder?

[Steve A.13]

Windows.

[Hannah · Accepted solution]

Hey @Steve A.13, just wanted to jump in here and confirm that once you've finished working on a file that's available offline, if you want it to go back to online-only, you need to right-click on it and choose to do it manually.

[Steve A.13]

Copy. Thanks, Hannah. That answers my question.

[Babelle2023]

Hannah does this mean, if one is to forget to click online again the changes are not saved online? and my VA would not see the changes in Dropbox?

[Steve A.13]

As I understand it, your changes will still get saved to Dropbox, however the file no longer be online-only (i.e., it will exist on both the Dropbox server and on your local drive).

[Jay]

Hi @Babelle2023, all files in the Dropbox folder are stored on the Dropbox site, assuming that the Dropbox desktop application is running and fully synced, and that you haven't enabled selective sync. 

The online-only feature means that files don't take up physical space on your computer.