OneDrive has some enormous benefits for users. You can access your files from anywhere in the world, sync your documents between all your devices, and save space on your hard drive by keeping your content in the cloud.

It's the last of those three benefits—saving hard drive space—that we want to focus on today. Specifically, we're going to explain:

  1. How to remove local OneDrive files from your PC without deleting them from OneDrive itself.
  2. How to delete files from OneDrive but not on your computer.

Keep reading to learn more.

How to Categorize OneDrive Files

file explorer

Files in your OneDrive account fall into one of three categories when viewed through the prism of File Explorer:

  • Online-Only Files: These files don't take up space on your machine. You can only access them when you have an internet connection. They are marked using a cloud icon.
  • Locally Available Files: These are the former online-only files that you downloaded to your machine. They are shown with a green tick in a white circle.
  • Always Available Files: These files download onto your computer immediately after creation and are available at all times. They use a white tick in a green circle.

You have two choices if you want to remove OneDrive files from your local computer without deleting them from your cloud storage. It depends on whether you're starting with Always Available Files or Locally Available Files.

How to Make OneDrive Files Locally Available

file explorer keep on device

If you want to make sure that you're always able to access OneDrive files on your local PC, even when you're offline, you need to make sure a local copy is available at all times. Follow these steps to make the necessary tweaks:

  1. Open File Explorer.
  2. Click on OneDrive in the left-hand column.
  3. Navigate to the file or folder in question.
  4. Right-click on the file/folder.
  5. Click on Always keep on this device.

The icon will change to a white tick in a green circle, and the selected files will sync to your PC. It could take a few minutes, depending on the files' size. Once the process is complete, any changes you make to the files on other computers will automatically be reflected in your local copy.

If you can’t see the category icons next to the file, OneDrive might have missed the chance to sync its folder. However, launching the OneDrive app should fix the issue.

How to Delete Local Copies of OneDrive Files

file explorer free up space

Perhaps you've finished working on a project, and you're now happy for the old files to live in the cloud, where they won't take up space on your hard drive. Thankfully, it is easy to un-sync OneDrive. In cases where you want to remove OneDrive files from your PC, follow these steps instead:

  1. Open File Explorer.
  2. Click on OneDrive in the left-hand column.
  3. Navigate to the file or folder in question.
  4. Right-click on the file/folder.
  5. Click on Free up space.

The green circle will change back into a cloud icon, OneDrive will delete the local copies of the file/folder, and the space on your hard drive will become free.

How to Mass-Delete Local Copies on OneDrive

If you want to free up storage space you might have to remove every local copy. However, it will take a lot of time. Even if you press and hold Ctrl or Command and select the files you want to delete, there’s no guarantee you’ll select every local copy.

Fortunately, there’s a faster way to remove local copies on OneDrive.

  1. Launch the OneDrive app.
  2. Head to Settings > Sync and back up.
  3. Expand the Advanced settings menu.
  4. From the Files On-Demand section, click the Free up disk space option.
How to remove all local copies on OneDrive

OneDrive will now store everything on the cloud, so you have to be online before trying to access your files. Also, make sure you have enough storage room to avoid losing anything important.

Remove OneDrive Local Folders With Selective Sync

Now, if you don’t want to remove every local folder from your OneDrive, you can use OneDrive’s Selective Sync feature. This way, you instruct it about which folders should be kept online and and which folders you want to be stored locally.

In the OneDrive app, go to Settings > Account. There, click the Choose folders button. Then, uncheck the folders that you want to remove from your computer and click OK.

Use selective sync on OneDrive

Using Selective Sync is just one of the tips that will help you get the most out of OneDrive.

How to Delete OneDrive Files Without Removing Them From Your PC

Before going through the process of removing OneDrive files, there’s one thing you need to consider. OneDrive uses a two-way synchronization protocol for your OneDrive files and folders. Because of this, whenever you delete a file or folder from OneDrive, it will also be deleted from your computer. And the other way around.

So, if you have a file/folder in OneDrive that you no longer want to store in the cloud but for which you do want to maintain a local copy on your PC, you'll need to move it out of the OneDrive folder before you delete it.

  1. Open File Explorer.
  2. Click on OneDrive in the left-hand column.
  3. Navigate to the file or folder in question.
  4. Left-click on the file/folder to highlight it.
  5. Press CTRL + C to make a copy.
  6. Navigate to where you want to save the local copy. Remember, make sure you're no longer looking at the OneDrive file hierarchy in the left-hand panel.
  7. Press CTRL + V to paste the file into its new home.
  8. Go back to OneDrive in the left-hand panel of File Explorer and delete the original file.

Sometimes, OneDrive might be acting up and stop you from removing certain files. If this case, check out our guide on how to delete stubborn OneDrive files and folders.

Don't Forget to Make Backups!

As always, if you are new to this process, it always pays to make backups before you try to make any changes. Backups can be made on another cloud service like Google Drive, on a USB stick, or on an external hard drive. If you want to make sure your files and folders are safe, you should use a secure cloud storage service.