Use OneDrive Online Only Files to Save Disk Space and Boost Productivity

Using OneDrive's online-only files can be a game-changer for saving disk space. By storing files online, you can free up space on your computer and access them from anywhere.

OneDrive offers up to 1TB of free storage, which is plenty of room for your files. According to the article, this means you can store up to 500,000 photos or 200,000 Office documents online.

By keeping files online, you can also boost your productivity. With OneDrive's automatic syncing feature, you can access your files from any device with an internet connection. This means you can work on a document at home, save it to OneDrive, and then pick up where you left off from your work computer.

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You can make content in your OneDrive folder available online-only to free up local storage space. This is done through the Storage sense feature, which you can access by going to Settings > Devices > Storage.

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To set up Storage sense, click on the "Change how we free up space automatically" link under the "Storage sense" section. From there, you can choose when content should become available online-only, with options ranging from 1 day to 1 year.

One thing to note is that files you've selected as "Always keep on this device" won't be affected by this feature. If you're running an earlier version of Windows 10, you may not see these settings, but you can still use the feature by manually right-clicking files and selecting the "Free up space" option.

Here's a quick rundown of the Storage sense options for making content available online-only:

Keep in mind that you can still see the files in your OneDrive folder, but you'll need an internet connection to re-hydrate the file you want to open.

OneDrive Online-Only is a feature that helps you save space on your device by making content that you haven't accessed in a certain amount of time available online-only.

You can enable this feature by going to Settings, then Devices, then Storage, and finally clicking on Storage sense.

Storage sense allows you to select when content should become available online-only, with options ranging from 14 days to 60 days.

Once you've enabled Storage sense, content that you haven't opened on your device in more than the specified time will become available only with an internet connection.

However, you'll still be able to see the files in the OneDrive folder, but you'll need an internet connection to re-hydrate the file you want to open.

Files that you've selected as "Always keep on this device" won't be affected by this feature.

Changing a file to online-only doesn't delete it from your OneDrive, it just frees up space on your device.

Here are the steps to enable Storage sense:

You can move online-only files within your OneDrive folder for that OneDrive account.

Online-only files are stored only in the cloud, which means they don't take up space on your device. This is convenient for storing large files or files you don't need immediate access to.

If you move a file outside of your OneDrive folder, it will download to the new folder and be removed from your OneDrive. This is a key difference between online-only files and files that are stored locally on your device.

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If you're running low on storage space, Storage sense can make content that you haven't accessed after a certain amount of time in the OneDrive folder available online-only.

You can move online-only files within your OneDrive folder for that OneDrive account, but if you move them outside the folder, they'll download to the new folder and be removed from your OneDrive.

Changing a file to online-only doesn't delete it from your OneDrive, it just frees up space on your device.

To manage your OneDrive files, you can use the Storage sense settings page to select when content should become available online-only. The options available are: after 1 day, 14 days, 30 days, 60 days, or 6 months.

Here's a step-by-step guide to using Storage sense:

Note that files you've selected as “Always keep on this device” won't be affected by Storage sense.

If you're running low on storage space, you can use Storage sense to make OneDrive content available online-only. This feature is available starting with Windows 10 October 2018 Update.

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To use this feature, open Settings and click on Devices. Click on Storage and under "Storage sense", click the Change how we free up space automatically link. You'll see the Storage sense settings on Windows 10 version 1809.

Under "Locally available cloud content", use the drop-down menu and select when content should become available online-only. You can choose from options such as "Never", "One day", "Three days", "One week", or "One month." Storage sense Locally available cloud content option

Files that you select as "Always keep on this device" won't be affected by this feature. If you don't see these settings, it's because you're not running a supported version of Windows 10.

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If you're running low on storage space, you can use Storage sense to make content available online-only in the OneDrive folder. This feature is available starting with Windows 10 October 2018 Update.

To access this feature, open Settings and click on Devices, then Storage. Under "Storage sense", click the Change how we free up space automatically link. You'll see a drop-down menu under "Locally available cloud content", where you can select when content should become available online-only.

The options available are: Storage sense Locally available cloud content option. You can choose from options like "Free up space with files I don't need" or "Free up space with files I rarely use".

Once you've selected your preference, click the Clean now button. This will make content that hasn't been opened on your device in more than the specified time available only with an internet connection.

However, you'll still be able to see the files in the OneDrive folder, but you'll need an internet connection to re-hydrate the file you want to open. If you select files as "Always keep on this device", they won't be affected by this feature.

If you're running an earlier version of Windows 10, you can still use this feature, but you'll need to manually right-click the files and select the Free up space option.

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