---
title: "Online-only file"
url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-online-only-file
category: "Glossary"
tags: ["glossary", "cloud accounts", "finder"]
summary: "An online-only file lives in a cloud account, with only a placeholder on your Mac. It still shows in Finder and downloads when you open it."
updated: 2026-10-01T05:35:46.000Z
---

# Online-only file

An online-only file lives in a cloud account, with only a placeholder on your Mac. It still shows in Finder and downloads when you open it.

An **online-only file** is one whose contents live in a cloud account, with only a small placeholder on your Mac. It still appears in Finder with its name and size, but takes almost no space until you open it — then it downloads. Finder marks online-only items with a small cloud icon.

Opening one needs an internet connection the first time, so keep files you need offline downloaded.

In Storage Studio:

- Files in the [Storage Studio location in Finder](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-storage-studio-location-in-finder) are online-only until you open them. **Keep opened files on this Mac** decides how long an opened file stays downloaded — 24 hours unless you change it.
- **Optimize Cloud Storage…** in the More menu turns files that are already downloaded in a cloud folder on your Mac back into online-only files, skipping any file that's open.

See also: [Keep opened files on this Mac](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/keep-opened-files-on-this-mac) · [Optimise Cloud Storage Locally](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/optimise-cloud-storage-locally)

## What links here

- [Built-in disk](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-built-in-disk)
- [Keep opened files on this Mac](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/keep-opened-files-on-this-mac)
- [Keep opened files versus iCloud's Remove Download](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/compared-with-remove-download)
- [Optimise Cloud Storage Locally](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/optimise-cloud-storage-locally)
- [Parking a folder in a cloud account](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/parking-a-folder-in-a-cloud-account)
- [Storage Studio and Optimise Mac Storage](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/compared-with-optimise-mac-storage)
- [Storage Studio and macOS Storage settings](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/compared-with-macos-storage-settings)
- [Storage Studio's cloud accounts and iCloud Drive](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/compared-with-icloud-drive)
- [The Storage Studio location in Finder](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/the-storage-studio-location-in-finder)
- [What the Delta Drive badges mean](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/delta-drive-badges)