Save space and download files as i need them

If a folder is online-only, you can still mark individual files within that folder as always available. Desktop search can search for online-only files by name, but it cannot search the contents within online-only files because they aren't stored on the device. Sometimes you might want to make sure a folder doesn't show up on a device for privacy reasons.

For example, you might want to hide a personal folder on a work computer. Here's how you do that. Next to the location where you want to choose folders, select Choose folders. Important: Files On-Demand settings are unique to each device, so you may need to do this on each device where you want to keep a folder hidden. Yes, you can move online-only files within your OneDrive folder for that OneDrive account. When you move files outside that OneDrive folder, the files download to the new folder and are removed from your OneDrive.

With your files and folders in the OneDrive cloud backup , if you accidentally delete something, you can restore them from your OneDrive recycle bin. When you delete an online-only file from your device, you delete it from your OneDrive on all devices and online. You can restore deleted files and folders from your OneDrive recycle bin on the web for up to 30 days for items stored in OneDrive personal when you're signed in with a Microsoft account , or for up to 93 days for items stored in OneDrive for work or school or SharePoint in Microsoft when you're signed in with a work or school account.

If you delete a locally available file, it also appears in your device recycle bin. If you want to hide a folder on your device, see Choose a folder to hide on your device. No, changing a file to online-only doesn't delete it from your OneDrive. The file no longer takes up space on your device, and you will still be able to see the file from OneDrive mobile apps or on the website.

If you aren't seeing the Files On-Demand options, the latest version of OneDrive hasn't rolled out to you yet. Here's how to get the latest version of OneDrive. Make sure you're running Windows 10 Fall Creators Update version When OneDrive Setup starts, enter your personal account, or your work or school account, and then select Sign in. Follow the instructions to Turn on Files On-Demand. Select the check box next to the type of files you want to delete.

To view a description of each type of file, select the name. Be sure to clear those check boxes if you don't want to delete those files. To free up even more space, select Clean up system files , and then select the type of system files you want to delete. Disk Cleanup will take a few moments to calculate the amount of space that can be freed up.

If you need to free up drive space, you can delete it, but keep in mind that you'll be deleting your Windows. If you delete your previous version of Windows, this can't be undone. You won't be able to go back to your previous version of Windows. Selecting this option compresses the drive on which Windows is installed, helping you gain extra space to install important updates.

This action does not delete the contents of this drive, and you shouldn't experience problems opening and saving files from the compressed drive.

After you install the update, you can manually decompress the OS drive at any time. Right-click or tap and hold the OS drive usually disk C , and then select Properties on the shortcut menu. Windows 11 may indicate that it needs more space to get the latest Windows 11 feature update. You can use an external storage device to help you complete the update. To learn more, see Free up space for Windows updates. Personal files such as videos, music, photos, and documents can take up a lot of space on your device.

To see which files are using the most space:. Select File Explorer from the taskbar and find the files you want to move.

Under This PC in the menu on the left, select a folder to see what files are saved in it. If there are files you no longer need on your device, you can either delete them or move them to an external storage device like a USB drive or an SD card.

Note: If you delete any files, remember to empty the Recycle Bin to completely remove them from your device and free up space. To move photos, music, videos, or other files that you want to keep but don't use very often, consider saving them to an external storage device like a USB drive or an SD card. You'll still be able to use them when the drive is connected, but they won't take up space on your PC.

Select File Explorer from the taskbar and go to the folder that contains the files you want to move. Select the files, then select Cut on the ribbon. Navigate to the location of the external storage device you connected, then select Paste. Instead of saving all your new files to the default drive, you can save some of them to a different drive that has more free space. Open Storage settings. For each content type, select a drive from the drop-down menu.

If the drive you want to use isn't listed there, make sure it's connected to your PC. You can save space by turning on OneDrive Files On-Demand, which stores a smaller placeholder file on your hard drive instead of the full-size file that's stored in your OneDrive account in the cloud.

You'll be able to get to your OneDrive files from your PC without having to use up hard-drive space downloading full-size versions of them all. Sometimes a virus or other malware can consume significant hard-drive space by corrupting your system files. If you suspect your PC is infected with malware, use an antivirus program like Windows Defender to run a virus scan and cleanup.

If this doesn't fix the problem, you might need to reset your PC. This is also recommended if your attempts to free up drive space trigger particular error codes that you need help resolving. The following questions concern low disk space and Windows Update specifically. Learn more about Windows Update.

When you select Fix issues , you'll be informed about how much additional space is needed. Learn how to free up space to install Windows updates.

The total free disk space your device requires to complete an update varies. Learn about the difference between a feature update and a quality update. You need disk space to download the update, download new versions of any optional features and languages that are currently installed, and to apply the update. Additional space is temporarily required to support removal of the update typically for 10 days.

This space can be reclaimed after the update is completed. Note: For devices with reserved storage, an update will first use the reserved storage space before using other disk space. For more info, see How reserved storage works in Windows. However, what many people may not also realize is how well these models fair when it comes to exporting.

Cricut Design Space is an App where you can extend your creative projects by both designing and wirelessly cutting here. Whether you prefer to start your very own project from scratch or utilize the vast collection of images and fonts stored in the Circuit library, this area allows all file types. This method allows you to save your projects from your Design Space and effectively take them out of the Cricut Design Space to work on away from this software, and even on another program, ready for exporting to where you need them to go.