OneDrive Files On-Demand: free up gigabytes without losing access
Files On-Demand keeps every OneDrive file visible in File Explorer, but only downloads them when you open them. Here's how to set it up and free up space.
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If your laptop is constantly running out of disk space and your OneDrive folder is the culprit, Files On-Demand is the fix. It's been on by default for new installs since 2018, but a lot of older setups still have it disabled.
What it actually does
With Files On-Demand on, your OneDrive folder shows every file you have in the cloud, but only the ones you've opened recently take up local disk space. The rest are tiny placeholders — a few KB each.
Open a file, OneDrive downloads it. Right-click it, choose Free up space, and it goes back to being a placeholder.
The icons in File Explorer
You'll see one of three little icons next to each file:
- ☁️ Cloud — online-only, takes no local space.
- ✅ Green check (outlined) — downloaded when you opened it; can be removed automatically.
- ✅ Green check (filled) — "Always keep on this device". Stays local.
Turning Files On-Demand on
- Click the OneDrive cloud icon in your system tray.
- Click the gear icon → Settings.
- Go to the Sync and backup tab.
- Expand Advanced settings.
- Under Files On-Demand, click Free up disk space.
Done. Within a few minutes, OneDrive will start converting your local files into placeholders.
Marking files to always keep offline
For files you genuinely need offline — say, travel documents or a presentation you'll show on a plane — right-click them in File Explorer and choose Always keep on this device. The icon turns into a filled green check.
Worth knowing
- Files On-Demand needs Windows 10 build 1709 or newer (basically every supported Windows version today).
- It works on macOS too, but the right-click menu is a bit different.
- If a file shows the cloud icon but you can't download it, your OneDrive sync may be paused — click the tray icon to check.
How much space will I save?
In our testing, a 90 GB OneDrive folder shrank to 2.3 GB of local placeholders after enabling Files On-Demand. Files only re-downloaded when opened. Combined with Storage Sense, you can essentially never worry about OneDrive eating your disk again.
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