WIndows 10 20H2 Onedrive Cloud Only

Stan Kasper 1,376 Reputation points
2021-02-04T04:44:35.863+00:00

I've done extensive searching and am dumbfounded. I want the OneDrive builtin version with Windows 10 20H2 to do cloud only files. At some point in the history of Onedrive you were able to get a 'cloud' icon which indicates the file is not stored locally. But that appears to have changed? And it will ALWAYS sync files/folders. I have gone into Settings and have set it so only certain folders/files appear but that does NOT stop it from syncing. I am not using Office on some machines. I just want them to see the OneDrive files and not sync. What is the magic to make that happen?

Windows 10
Windows 10
A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.
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  1. Karlie Weng 14,641 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2021-02-05T01:57:36.457+00:00

    Hello @Stan Kasper

    when you point to the folder you can see the status as well.
    64361-image.png

    Right click and select free up space
    64268-image.png

    The status will be changed back to online.
    64272-image.png

    Please note: New files or folders created online or on another device appear as online-only to save maximum space. However, if you mark a folder as "Always keep on this device," new files in that folder download to your device as always available files.

    64333-image.png

    Reference article:
    Mark a file or folder for offline use or as online-only

    Thank you and have a great day !

    Best Regards
    Karlie

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  1. Karlie Weng 14,641 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor
    2021-02-04T08:12:10.113+00:00

    Hello @Stan Kasper

    Please check out What do the OneDrive icons mean? and here is an article about How to Stop OneDrive from Syncing?
    63953-image.png

    Best Regards
    Karlie

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  2. Stan Kasper 1,376 Reputation points
    2021-02-04T20:15:43.22+00:00

    I went through the entire doc posted 'How to stop onedrive from syncing'. None of the methods addressed the issue of 'how to keep files in the cloud only and not locally'. Half of the methods did not even appear on my version of Onedrive - latest for Windows 10 20H2. And the other half just shut down the process completely or temporarily which did not give me access to the Onedrive 'cloud' files.

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  3. Stan Kasper 1,376 Reputation points
    2021-02-06T01:14:57.627+00:00

    Thank you for your support! This issue is very deep. What was helpful was knowing that in Onedrive / Settings there should be a check box for 'File On-Demand'. Your posting allowed me to see a screen shot of this. And on my particular setup it did not show up. Even after following a bunch of instructions on how to reinstall and make it show it, it did not. I am stepping back on those clients that want to use this to pinpoint the issue. At this point it looks like it could be this: dism /Online /disable-Feature /Featurename:WCF-Services45 /Remove Or it could be I am
    disabling some service that is necessary for 'Files On-Demand' but still allows Onedrive to run. Going to drill down
    and find the culprit. Will post once I make the discovery. Very strange.

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