With the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update Microsoft has implemented a feature on OneDrive to help users reclaim hard disk space
With the new OneDrive On-Demand feature present in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update we will be able to free up hard disk space by showing all OneDrive files directly in File Explorer, if they are stored on our device or in the cloud.
With the new OneDrive tool designed for the Windows 10 update we can open files stored in the cloud the same way we open files present locally. To verify that the feature is active, after updating the operating system, we have to go to OneDrive Settings. Although it must be said that normally this solution should be set as the default once we perform the installation of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. If not, we go to the Start menu and look for OneDrive, then click on Settings and here we put a check mark on the "Save space and save files in use".
Status icons
With the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update in File Explorer we will see three different status icons for files. The blue cloud icon will show documents that are saved exclusively online. With the green tick in a white circle will be indicated instead the files saved locally but that can be moved to the cloud in case of lack of space in the hard disk. While a white checkmark on a green background will show only those files that will be saved locally even if there is not much space on the hard disk.
How to download and upload a file
How to download a file saved in the cloud and have it available locally? Simple, just right-click and choose the Keep file on this device option. But what if we were to do the opposite operation? That is, send a file saved locally on the cloud to recover space on the hard disk? Let's select the document, right-click on it and choose the Free Space option.