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Dropbox app uploading in online only outside of the Dropbox folder.

I've used the free Dropbox for a while but just went to a paid version and would also like to use the Dropbox app to make file transfer and organization easier. In my case with most files I want them to be online only in order to save hard drive space. I see that files must be in online only mode via right clicking which is a welcome choice and even better it appears to be the default option when I upload files to the website directly. Awesome so far!

However, if I drag files into the Dropbox drive made available by the Dropbox app after they upload they are both existing in that Dropbox folder while also simultaneously in the original location on my hard drive. This isn't a surprise at all, although I was hoping to find some workaround to be able to drag files into the drive and keep them online only while being able to easily organize them so long as I don't download back to my hard drive. I tried to select all and make them all online only and after waiting for them to convert I checked the file size of the root Dropbox folder and it was unchanged.

So here I am hoping to find a way to use the Dropbox app to upload files without copying them into that Dropbox folder on my actual hard drive. Can anybody help out please?

I did try the manage hard drive space tool accessed from right clicking on the Dropbox drive, but it claims I have no offline files, whereas the folder itself is exactly the same size as the original files it contains despite most of them being uploaded directly to the website without even using the app. I'm confused by that.

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Mark

Hi @linguos

Dropbox can only work on and upload files inside its own folder. So, there is no way of doing what you'd like it to do. Even with the option to upload and save desktop / documents etc. to Dropbox this moves those actual directories over and puts hidden shortcuts where they originally were.

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Mark

Hi @linguos

linguos

Thank you for this answer.

By the way, I hope you don't mind me asking: what if I have moved things into the Dropbox folder which, if I understand correctly, would move the files into that Dropbox folder and leave shortcuts behind in their original locations but then, at some point in the future, I decided to either delete that Dropbox folder or to uninstall the Dropbox program?

How does such a situation resolve in terms of protecting or destroying the original files?

Hannah

Jumping in here as well, @linguos.

So, if I understand correctly, when you're dragging and dropping files from your computer to your Dropbox folder, instead of the file getting moved (moved to Dropbox and deleted from its original location), the file gets copied, so you have the same file both in Dropbox and in the original location, is that right?

This isn't something that Dropbox is doing, to be honest.

The Dropbox folder is just like any other folder on your computer, just with the ability to sync the files to your Dropbox account. So, this might have to do with your OS instead.

As for making your files online-only, do you mean that you right-clicked and made your files online-only, but they're still taking up hard drive space?

linguos

Thanks,

When I mentioned the shortcuts I was probably misunderstanding the first response I got. If I am understand you correctly if I move a file into my Dropbox folder and then the file appears to simultaneously exist in both the Dropbox folder and the original directory then there are in fact two files occupying harddrive space?

However, if I make that file in my Dropbox folder online only then it will not use double the harddrive space?

If everything I have said is correct I still do have some confusion because it sounds like, although it may not be the most efficient method, I could totally drag things I want online only into my Dropbox folder from my PC and then after it uploads switch it all to online only if it wasn't by default. Additionally, even while things are online only, I am able to re-organize files within the Dropbox folder. Therefore I am able to achieve what I was asking about in my OP.

I'm sorry if I've described things unclearly. Thanks for bearing with me.

Jay

Hi @linguos, could you clarify exactly how you're moving files into your Dropbox folder. Copies of files will only be created if you're moving it from another drive entirely, into the Dropbox folder, depending on how your OS makes the move.

Marking the file in the Dropbox folder as online-only will make only one copy of the file (the one outside the Dropbox folder) take up space.

The default for online-only files is only when files are syncing from the site to the computer.

Moving files from your computer into the Dropbox folder doesn't make them online-only, since they were already local. Those files need to be manually marked as online-only, once they've synced to the site.

Jbeh

Hi Jay,
I’ve just read through this thread with interest. I’ve just subscribed to the paid version of Dropbox. I am disappointed to hear that if you copy a file into Dropbox from your computer this file wont be online only. I really needed a way to move files in and out of my Dropbox folder with them being uploaded and stored online ONLY. What is the point of the online only option for new files. It seems a bit silly that you have to manually mark files online only after importing them from the hard drive. To not have this option seems strange. Is there a workaround for this issue. If not can Dropbox consider making this possible? When I add files to Dropbox from another source I can’t have it saving to the hard drive of my computer.

Rich

@Jbeh wrote:
What is the point of the online only option for new files.

It's for files that are added to Dropbox from other devices (or the website). With that option set, files will sync down to your computer as Online-only. That option has no effect on files you drag into your Dropbox folder.