---
id: privacy-safety.does-storage-studio-scan-my-icloud-by-downloading-it
url: https://storagestudio.us/faq/privacy-safety/does-storage-studio-scan-my-icloud-by-downloading-it
category: "Privacy & safety"
subcategory: "What leaves your Mac"
question: "Does Storage Studio download my online-only files to scan them?"
alt_questions:
  - "Will Storage Studio download my whole iCloud Drive?"
  - "Does duplicate checking download cloud files?"
  - "storage studio online only files scan"
  - "Does scanning use up my bandwidth?"
short_answer: "No. Online-only iCloud files are skipped, and for connected cloud accounts Storage Studio reads the provider's own fingerprints instead of downloading files, so nothing is fetched just to scan it."
tags: ["online-only", "icloud", "duplicates"]
related: ["https://storagestudio.us/faq/privacy-safety/does-storage-studio-access-my-cloud-files-in-the-background", "https://storagestudio.us/faq/icloud/will-i-lose-icloud-files-if-i-make-them-online-only"]
applies_to: "all"
last_reviewed: 2026-10-01
---

# Does Storage Studio download my online-only files to scan them?

No. Online-only iCloud files are skipped when checking for duplicates, so nothing is downloaded just to compare it. For connected cloud accounts, Storage Studio reads the fingerprints the provider already keeps rather than fetching the files.

In the Storage Profile, online-only files take up no local space, so they never show up as space hogs on your Mac.