---
id: moving-folders.should-i-move-folders-inside-dropbox-or-onedrive
url: https://storagestudio.us/faq/moving-folders/should-i-move-folders-inside-dropbox-or-onedrive
category: "Moving folders"
subcategory: "Moving specific folders"
question: "Should I move folders that live inside Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive's folder on my Mac?"
alt_questions:
  - "Relocate files inside a synced cloud folder"
  - "Move Dropbox folder contents to external drive"
  - "Links inside OneDrive folder"
  - "storage studio and cloud sync folders"
short_answer: "We recommend not. Cloud apps sync what they find in their folder, and replacing files with links can confuse them. To save space there, make those files online-only instead — they stay in the cloud and download when opened."
tags: ["dropbox", "onedrive", "cloud folders"]
related: ["https://storagestudio.us/faq/moving-folders/what-should-i-not-move-to-an-external-drive"]
applies_to: "all"
last_reviewed: 2026-10-01
---

# Should I move folders that live inside Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive's folder on my Mac?

We recommend not. A cloud app watches its own folder and syncs what it finds there, and replacing synced files with links can confuse it — it may upload the links instead of the files, or decide the files were removed.

For files inside a cloud provider's folder, the better way to save space is to make them **online-only**, so they stay in the cloud and download when you open them. Storage Studio can do that for you as part of its clean-up options.

See [iCloud & online-only files](https://storagestudio.us/faq/icloud/).