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How can I make files online-only on a Mac (so that files don't download on my hard drive and I don't have to log out of Box to clear the cache all the time)?

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Gabriel Trop

With Mac Monterey, I can't find the option to open files in an online-only mode; for example, if I want to watch a film stored on Box, it downloads it onto my hard drive. I was able find a "view offline" but can't find anything where you can view "online-only"; 

In this link, it says there is a box where you can right-click "online-only" :

https://support.box.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043697574-Making-Content-Available-Offline

but I can't find that on my mac; when I right click on a file, there is no "online only" toggle. 

Right now the only way to remove the files from my hard drive is logging out and logging back in. If we can't access files without downloading them on my computer, it makes the whole Box Drive premise useless right (then it just becomes like Box sync).

Please help! Thank you-- 

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6 comments

Date Votes
  • France

    Hi Gabriel, 

    Welcome to the Box Community, I'm happy to help!

    It looks like you are part of an organization that requires their managed users to contact your internal helpdesk or IT team for issues related to Box.

    Kindly reach out to your internal helpdesk or IT team for further assistance on looking into this.

    Regards,

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  • Patrick Hennessey

    Try right-clicking on the downloaded content and instead of using Box's dropdown menu items, look near the top and you should see "Remove Download." This forces Box to remove the local copy, and return the file or files to online-only mode. You'll see that this is the case because they will now have a cloud icon with an arrow pointing down. You should instantly see your hard drive space return! You can do this with whole folders, too.

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  • Box User

    THANKS PATRICK!

     

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  • Eric Martinez

    I had this similar question....seems like an unnecessary extra step to reclaim HDD space. Is this how Box Drive for Mac is supposed to work because I don't believe that's the case on the windows side.

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  • Rachel Kodner

    I dont have that option to choose "remove download"

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  • Rachel Kodner
    • Edited

    dropbox desktop app is so easy to use, very user friendly. with dropbox you just right click on the file and choose "online only". I dont see that feature with box.com in order to reclaim file space on my computer's hard drive. If I go to the root folder of that particular file I see the option, but I don't see it if I right click on one individual file within a folder. Perhaps that could be added?

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