What is the difference in OneDrive between available offline (green check mark) and always kept on your device (solid green circle with a white check mark)?

Mister-Lavender 20 Reputation points
2025-11-03T17:04:45.9433333+00:00

This is from Microsoft Support:*

In OneDrive, a green check mark indicates that a file is available offline, while a solid green circle with a white check mark means the file is always kept on your device, ensuring it is accessible even without an internet connection.*

What is the difference between available offline and always kept on your device?

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows
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Anonymous
2025-11-03T17:38:03.2966667+00:00

Hi MisterLavender,

“Available offline” means the file is currently downloaded and accessible without an internet connection. However, OneDrive may remove the local copy later if your device needs to free up space. If that happens, the file will be re-downloaded when you open it again.

“Always kept on this device” means the file is permanently stored on your device. OneDrive won’t remove it, even if disk space is low. This ensures the file is always accessible offline, no matter what.

So, the key difference is that “available offline” is temporary and managed by OneDrive, while “always kept” is a manual setting that guarantees the file stays local.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-do-the-onedrive-icons-mean-11143026-8000-44f8-aaa9-67c985aa49b3

Hope that helps clarify things.

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