
… Tap the drop-down menu next to any file or folder, then hit the Make available offline option. The apps for Android and iOS don’t save and sync files to your device like the desktop apps for Windows and macOS do. On your phone, Dropbox doesn’t work the same way as it does on your computer. …Īre Dropbox files stored locally on my computer?
Check the folders you’d like saved on your hard drive. Under Selective Sync, click Choose folders (Mac) or Selective Sync… (Windows). Open your Dropbox desktop app preferences. The reason for this is that file size is calculated based on something called “logical size” rather than “physical size”. If you’re using Smart Sync with macOS High Sierra 10.13 and up, you may notice that online-only files appear to take up space when you try to manage storage space in your Mac settings. Why are smart sync files still taking up space? With Smart Sync, you can choose to make files online-only. Synced files take up hard drive space, and everything you don’t sync can’t be seen or opened on your computer. Selective Sync is an older feature that allows you to choose files and folders to sync with Dropbox. What is the difference between Smart Sync and selective sync in Dropbox? It is a premium feature, though, available only for paid plans. Plus, while many cloud storage services leave chunky files on your computer, Dropbox has a nifty option on both Windows and Mac called Smart Sync that lets you leave all those files online, helping you free up that much-needed hard drive space. Right-click that folder and select Smart Sync > Local from the menu:
Find the folder that you would like to change.Click the folder icon in the upper right:.
Click the Dropbox tray icon ( ) to open the Dropbox menu.The convenience of being able to see and access these files without storing them on your hard drive is immense. Furthermore, Smart Sync is perfect for you if a lot of users share files with you. When should you use Smart Sync? Consider Smart Sync when you have a large amount of files stored in your Dropbox. Online-only files take up minimal space on your hard drive: only saving the file name, location and last updated date. File and Folder names will appear in your local Dropbox folder. 15 How much does Dropbox Smart Sync cost? What is Dropbox Smart Sync Local vs online?ĭropbox Smart Sync allows you to select files or folders to be stored locally on your device or in the cloud (online-only).