Just to confirm –
On windows Dropbox uses symlink to make a reference to a file when “smart sync” is in effect — so on the first access to that file, the DB (windows) client will fetch the file from dropbox.com. Once the file is downloaded to the client, I can then process the file.
After I finish processing the file, is it by design that it remains on the client, so if I want to free up the space, what would I have to do to free up the space that the file is using?
Now other cloud storage systems like Gmail/GDrive and pcloud use a virtual drive so that unless I set cache or local folder that file is just in the cloud.