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Why is my macbook reading cloud files as taking up space?

I'm unable to update my computer because of lack of space. When I look up my computer's storage, it says there are 38GB of documents, however when I get the info for my documents folder or any other folder that could be considered documents, the total on disk storage is less than 50 MB because everything is uploaded to onedrive. Any help with why my 2019 macbook air is reading it that way? Currently on Catalina 10.15.7


Thanks

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jan 17, 2022 7:43 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 17, 2022 8:43 AM

Are you certain the files in the cloud are not also on your local drive? Typically a cloud service like iCloud provides file synchronization across devices, it does not remove files from a device. But OneDrive is not an Apple product so maybe check with Microsoft as to whether or not using OneDrive frees up local storage.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 17, 2022 8:43 AM in response to KMcGibney

Are you certain the files in the cloud are not also on your local drive? Typically a cloud service like iCloud provides file synchronization across devices, it does not remove files from a device. But OneDrive is not an Apple product so maybe check with Microsoft as to whether or not using OneDrive frees up local storage.

Why is my macbook reading cloud files as taking up space?

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