Question regarding onedrive app

Question

I have on my pc the onedrive app and of course i can access the onedirve website. My pc hard drive is almost full and most of that is from onedrive. Does the onedrive app reflect most of the used up space on the hard drive? I just want to back up a few data types and not everything. If I delete the onedrive app would my data still be on the onedrive website? Would space on my hard drive free up? I am assuming that I would have to back up data manually to the website. thank you and best regards, ed schilling

Answer 1

Hi, I'm Rodrigo, and I will help you.
Deleting the OneDrive app will not delete the data on the cloud (which you can access from the browser), but solely deleting the app will not free up the space on your hard drive. After uninstalling OneDrive, you need to delete the OneDrive folder to free up the space.

If you want to keep using the OneDrive app and free up the space on your hard drive, you can use the "Files on Demand" option, which will keep the files on the cloud and only download them as you use.

Right-click the OneDrive icon in the right side of the taskbar > Settings > Sync and Backup > Advanced Settings > Free up disk space

Answer 2

OneDrive on the PC keeps a local copy of the files in the OneDrive folder, and that local copy does use space on the hard drive.

When the OneDrive desktop app is installed and signed in:

• A OneDrive folder is created on the PC.
• Files in that folder are synced with the cloud version of OneDrive.
• Adding, changing, or deleting files in that folder is mirrored to the cloud, and vice versa.

If the OneDrive app is uninstalled or the account is unlinked from the PC:

• The files already stored in the cloud remain in OneDrive and can still be accessed through the OneDrive website.
• Removing the local OneDrive folder and its contents from the PC will free up the disk space those local copies were using.

To only back up a few data types instead of everything:

• Use the OneDrive settings to control which folders are backed up and synced (for example, Desktop, Documents, Pictures) and which are not, so that only selected content is stored locally and in the cloud.
• Files that are not synced will need to be uploaded manually to OneDrive via the website if a backup there is still desired.

Additionally, OneDrive Files On-Demand and Windows Storage Sense can help reduce local disk usage by keeping files online-only while still visible in File Explorer. Storage Sense can automatically make unused OneDrive files online-only again when the device runs low on space.

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References:

• OneDrive desktop app for earlier versions of Windows
• Quick tips: Sync files to the cloud with the OneDrive desktop app
• Overview of OneDrive in Microsoft 365
• Use OneDrive and Storage Sense in Windows 10 to manage disk space
• Use Storage Sense to manage disk space