Laptop with limited disk space: setting up virtual files and freeing up space correctly

The question: your Nextcloud is bigger than your laptop's disk, or your disk is filling up since you started using the desktop app.

The solution: use virtual files and free up space yourself from time to time. You'll find an explanation of virtual files in Virtual files: see everything, only download what you open; here's the setting for a laptop with limited space.

Setting it up

1. Check whether virtual files are switched on. Open the app's settings (cloud icon, your name, Settings), choose your account and click the three dots next to the folder. Does it say Enable virtual file support? Then choose that. If it says Disable virtual file support, they're already switched on.
2. Pin only the folders you really need while on the go: right-click, Always keep on this device. Choose small working folders, not your entire photo archive.
3. Free up space from large folders you've opened at some point: right-click the folder, Free up space. Start with folders containing photos, videos and old projects.

Keeping it small

• With virtual files, Windows does not automatically free up space. Every file you open stays in place. So once a month, choose Free up space on your whole Nextcloud folder (right-click Nextcloud on the left in File Explorer). Pinned folders will simply remain in place.
• Don't let programs search through your entire Nextcloud folder. A backup program, virus scanner or photo program that reads everything will download everything. Exclude the Nextcloud folder from such programs; your files are already safe in your Nextcloud.
• Don't let Windows Search index the content of files in the Nextcloud folder if this keeps triggering downloads.
• On the Mac, the File Provider handles this itself: when space is low, macOS turns files you haven't opened in a while back into online-only files. Pinned files stay in place.

Not recommended: selective sync

With selective sync (Selective sync: only certain folders), folders you deselect disappear from your laptop entirely. For a small disk, virtual files are more practical: you see everything, and only what you open takes up space.

Please note: Free up space is different from Delete. Deleting also removes the file from your Nextcloud, and from colleagues you share the folder with.