Files disapear after sync

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1

A few colleagues and I have data on Nextcloud, which we synchronise via the client as and when we need to, so that our PC storage doesn’t get too full. I work in a folder (e.g. ‘Folder1’), which is also synchronised. Afterwards, I disable the synchronisation, but the folder still appears in my client! To free up more storage space on my computer, I’d have to delete the folder now! But I can’t do that because as soon as I start synchronising again, it will also be deleted from Nextcloud
 Am I missing something? Or how should I go about this?

2

Hi SuKi,

Yes, this is how synchronization works. If you disable sync, then delete files or folders locally, then the next time you enable sync, these files and folders will get synced and deleted from the server too. What you’re seeing is normal behavior: the client will always keep your local folder and Nextcloud in a two-way sync.

Check if Nextcloud has a “virtual file” support, like Dropbox and others. I honestly don’t know as I never needed this feature.

OK. I think it does. But I have no idea how well it works, but this is what you need.

Then, the files on your local drive are just “pointers” to the original files on the server so they don’t take up space on your local drive, actually - to be precise - the do take a tiny bit of space, kind of like aliases or shortcuts. But this is exactly way this feature exists: to preserve space on your local disk, while maintaining sychronization. Just keep in mind that you can’t delete these shortcuts either :slight_smile: Or the server will also delete the originals when synchronizing.

Be aware that there is a risk to this though: you can’t backup your files locally since they’re just pointers, shortcuts, not real files. So if anything goes wrong with Nextcloud or you simply delete the files from the server, you will lose them, unless your Nextcloud instance has some sort of proper backup feature implemented.

3

Afaik the virtual file system is enable in the Nextcloud PC client app by default, which means you will see all files and folders, but they won’t be synchronized to your desktop. If a file is synchronized to your desktop, you should usually be able to right-click on it and select “free disk space” over “always keep on this device”.

See also How do virtual files work in the client

4

Could be the default indeed, I just always change it and never pay much attention to it as I don’t need nor like this feature.