NEWS
Free Up Disk space in Windows 10 Using OneDrive Files On-Demand
Windows 10 Fall Creators Update came with quite some useful features.
OneDrive Files On-Demand is one of such useful feature, and can help you free up disk space on your hard drive using the power of the cloud.
What is OneDrive Files On-Demand?
If you’re running the Fall Creators Update on your Windows 10 PC, you can edit your files – stored in your OneDrive cloud storage – on your computer without downloading them permanently. It can be done using OneDrive Files On-Demand. This facility can help you free up disk space on your computer which you can use to store other things if you want.
The files on your OneDrive which you have marked “online-only” are downloaded when you want to edit them. For instance, when you want to make changes to your Powerpoint presentation. After you have done the editing, the version of the file on OneDrive is replaced with the new one.
How to use OneDrive Files On Demand?
You should set up OneDrive on your device in advance to turn on the feature. To sign-in, open the OneDrive app from the Start Menu and follow the setup.
Next, follow the steps mentioned below to enable Files On-Demand on Windows 10 FCU:
- Right-click the OneDrive icon in the Notifications area.
- Go to Settings from the drop-down menu.
- Under the Settings tab, tick the checkbox that says “Save space and download files as you use them” to turn on the feature and free up disk space on your machine.
- Click Ok to save and continue.
After you enable the feature, you can see it working in File Explorer > OneDrive folder. A cloud status icon gets attached to the files and folders which are online-only. You can disable the on-demand feature by following the same steps.
To mark a file or folder as online-only, go the OneDrive folder, right-click the file and click “Free Up Space” in the context menu.
The files you’ve created online or on other devices are online-only by default. If you want a file to be available offline on your current device, click “Always keep on this device” option.
One thing to keep in mind is that turning on OneDrive Files On-Demand for one Windows 10 PC won’t enable it across all of your devices. These settings are tied individually to your devices.
Also, I won’t recommend you to use the Files on-demand feature if your internet bandwidth is limited as any change you make to the online-only files would cost you valuable data. As an alternative, you can check out Google’s Backup & Sync tool which automatically syncs the folders on your hard drive.
Use the OneDrive feature to free up hard drive on your Windows 10 PC and share your experience in the comments.
