Using odrive free version I populated the odrive>Amazon Cloud Drive folder with 40 GB of files by copying from various places where the original files are stored into similar subfolders in the odrive folder. Uploading to ACD proceeded automatically, and all the odrive subfolders were mirrored in ACD. After upload completed the subfolders in odrive are all marked with blue symbols and consume 40 GB of storage. I understand that placeholder folders and files are supported in the odrive free version. How do I convert my 40 GB of odrive subfolders into placeholder folders and files?
Hi @deranger2,
The unsync ability (the ability to convert files back into placeholders) is a premium feature. Take a look at this post for more details and possible options:
https://forum.odrive.com/t/is-there-any-way-to-unsync-a-file-folder-in-the-free-version/1399/2
Thanks for your reply, Tony. But I’m still a bit confused about how to do this in the free version. The message you cited says “everything starts out as placeholders, by default.” That wasn’t the case for my situation in which I made copies of various folders in the odrive folder. The odrive folder automatically uploaded everything I copied there to ACD and left the odrive folders using full 40 GB of storage. No placeholders survived.
The message you cited responded to a question about unsyncing in the free version and it outlined three methods:
- Unsync [but apparently that can’t be done in the free version]
- Unlink and relink a source [Could you explain how to do that? None of the odrive items exposed by right clicking an odrive folder say anything about unlinking]
- Deauthorize the odrive client [This one I understand]
Browsing the forum I have seen several references to the “What is free vs paid” post which states the free version includes “Full, automatic, bi-directional sync with placeholders.” I’m just not seeing how to get those placeholders except maybe by option 3 in your reply above.
Hi @deranger2,
It is assumed that most users will be starting out with some existing storage, across various accounts, instead of starting with completely new storage. In the case of existing storage, all of it will be represented by placeholders, at the start. It is only after choosing to download those files locally that the placeholders are replaced by the actual file data. So, for example, if you had tens or hundreds of GB of data across various accounts, you could link all of those to odrive and browse them without using up any local storage.
Unlinking can be done via the web client (https://www.odrive.com/account/myodrive). Click on the arrow to the right of the link and select “unlink”. When you unlink, the corresponding folder on your desktop will be removed. After that, re-link the account and a placeholder file (.cloudf) will be created to represent the storage source. Drill into it and everything will be represented by placeholders.
Tony,
Hope I’m not just being dense here, but this doesn’t work for me. I went to the web client using the link in your message, logged in, and found a folder that I wanted to convert to a Placeholder. When I clicked on the arrow on the right I was offered three choices: Delete, Rename, and Share. No mention of “unlink.” I tried Delete, and that deleted the folder in ACD and the odrive web client as well as the odrive folder as viewed with Windows Explorer. You said to “re-link the account” and I was not sure how to do that, so I tried copying the original of the folder I had deleted back into the odrive folder. That resulted in a new upload to ACD. The recreated folder in odrive is not a Placeholder, since it has a blue dot and consumes the full storage space required by the files it contains. Can you help me understand what I am doing incorrectly?
Hi @deranger2,
Unlinking is done at the root of the odrive folder in the web client. So you would unlink the “Amazon Cloud Drive” folder that is listed at the root of https://www.odrive.com/account/myodrive
To clarify, this would remove the Amazon Drive linked account from odrive, completely. When you re-link it, Amazon Cloud Drive.cloudf would be displayed in the odrive folder, and everything would again be a placeholder.
Tony, thanks for your additional explanation. I had incorrectly assumed that the odrive web client method you described would allow individual folders within Amazon Cloud Drive to be converted to Placeholders. I now see that the entire ACD must be converted, not individual folders. Working at the ACD level I do indeed see the Unlink command that you described.
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