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Moving files/folders to online-only doesn't do anything

All my files are currently on sync'd to my laptops. However I would like one laptop to have most of the folders set to online only.

I've used the Manage Hard Drive Space tool, but it doesn't seem to do anything. It says it's done. but the files are still on my laptop.

I wondered if I had to manually remove the files, so I tried deleting one of the files on said laptop, but it also deleted it from Dropbox totally ...it was an unimportant file 🙂

Am I missing a step?

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Megan

Have you tried uninstalling then re-installing the app @buroz?

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Rich

@buroz wrote:
All my files are currently on sync'd to my laptops. However I would like one laptop to have most of the folders set to online only.

To change the status of a file or folder you can right-click it and select either Make available offline or Make online-only.

https://help.dropbox.com/sync/make-files-online-only

buroz

So I've set it to "Make online-only", but it's still on my laptop hard drive too.

Megan

Hi @buroz, I hope you're doing well!

Keep in mind that when using this feature, the files/folders would still appear inside your Dropbox folder.

They wouldn't disappear from there, they would just count as 0 bytes. With that being said, can you clarify the size they take up inside your hard drive, and the app's current syncing status?

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!

buroz

I can see that my laptop hard drive is just as full as it was previously. So the files are still on my harddrive.

buroz

Also, when I re-open the tool, it shows that they are on my hard drive and I have the option to make them online-only

Nancy

@buroz, can you please right click on one of these files, select “Properties/Get info”, and send me a screenshot of the next window that will pop up?

I’d also like one more screenshot showing the syncing icons you see next to those files in your File Explorer/Finder.

buroz

Hopefully you can see everything you need in this screen shot?

Cheers

Matthew

Hannah

Thanks for the screenshot, @buroz.

From your screenshot, it appears that your files don't have any sync icons on them; is it possible that the Dropbox app is not running on your computer?

If you hover over the Dropbox icon in your system tray, what do you see?

buroz

Hello,

Well, when I put files into the folders, they assist in Dropbox on other laptops and online. Same when I remove them, so it looks too be functioning.

Cheers

Matthew

Hannah

Can you also let me know the exact sync status and version of the app installed on your computer, Matthew?

You'll need to hover over the Dropbox icon in your system tray for that.

buroz

Hello,

It says that it's up to date (v189.4.8427)

Cheers

Matthew

Hannah

Thanks for that, Matthew.

One more thing; if you go to your account settings here, is the Dropbox system extension setting enabled?

If not, please make sure to enable it.

buroz

Hello,

Yes, it's already enabled

Cheers

Matthew

Megan

Have you tried uninstalling then re-installing the app @buroz?

user00009

Im having exactly same problem. Agravated that i havent realized Dropbox stopped working sometime this week. I´ve noticed this by chance: i made fresh install of dropbox in MS Surface tablet with windwos 10... this reported issue emerged. So I went to my Windows 11 desktop to see what happened there, and realized that dropbox was not working. I tried opening app and nothing happend. I uninstalled from desktop and did fresh install, and the issue reported here also happened in my desktop. So now i have this problem duplicated in two devices. On my android device is ok.

Something weird, aside of all i wrote before, is that when i right click properties in windows explorer, i have 123gb (all data in dropbox) with the grey cloud icon, but when i go to "manage hard drive space" in app it says 40gb is used by dropbox. And when i want to chose files or folders it only shows me determined folders, not all of them.

Nancy

@user00009, can you please attach a few screenshots of what you see in your Properties vs what you see when going to your "manage hard drive space” settings? It'd really help to have a visual here.

buroz

I uninstalled Dropbox on that laptop and am just using the web UI for the time being.

Thanks for your assistance.