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Microsoft has been weaving OneDrive more deeply into Windows with each update, and the upcoming Windows 10 characteristic update (build 17720) will go on the trend. An updated version of Microsoft Storage Sense volition automatically support content to OneDrive, and it may even remove the local version of the file to save space. This could exist great for smaller disks, merely yous can disable Storage Sense if you want to manage your drives manually.

In the new version of Windows x, Microsoft wants Storage Sense to operate every bit a "silent assistant" that you don't have to babysit. As you utilize your computer and generate new files, they'll exist trickled upwardly to OneDrive for safekeeping. That part isn't new—the improvements come in what happens to the local files afterwards. When you don't apply a file for some period of time (the default is thirty days), Windows tin remove the local copy and supplant it with a placeholder icon. Microsoft calls this process "dehydration."

And so, y'all could go to open an older file and find that it's actually not on your hard drive anymore. That's where "Files On-Demand" comes in. Those "dehydrated" files can be restored seamlessly when you click on the placeholders. Y'all will need to be connected to the net, of course. You might not want to rely on the deject for access to specific files, even if you don't use them very often. And so, in that location's an choice to flag content for offline access, and Storage Sense won't remove your local copies.

Flagging offline content isn't the only tweak bachelor. Microsoft wants you to leave Storage Sense on, then at that place are various settings to make it less intrusive. Rather than having Storage Sense run daily, you lot can knock it back to weekly or monthly. You lot tin besides edit the amount of time information technology takes for files to go "online-only." Storage Sense automatically clears out your Downloads folder as well, and you tin can change the frequency of this purge.

If the automatic file management isn't your affair, y'all can just invoke Storage Sense manually with the "Free upward space now" pick. Here, you can pick which temporary files and logs volition get the ax.

Storage Sense will inquire for permission to manage your drive when the new Windows 10 build is live, so you tin opt out at that signal. Just make sure you know what Storage Sense is going to practice earlier yous requite it the go-ahead.

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