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How to sync only specific files to Dropbox or Google Drive

Cloud storage is useful for keeping close, but it has some weak points. Most of these come in the form of limited storage. Unless you paid more, you probably won't get more than 15GB on any service.

Another related issue is limited space on your computer. 6 Tips to Free Up Disk Space in Windows 10 6 Tips to Free Up Disk Space in Windows 10 Even a terabyte of storage space quickly fills up with media files. Here we will show you how to easily free up gigabytes of disk space in Windows 10 by removing redundant system files. Read more . If you have a ton of archived files in your cloud storage accounts, or share files with other people, your Dropbox or Google Drive folder may be taking up too much space on your PC.

If that's the case, you should use selective sync instead of syncing everything. Here's how.

How to use selective sync in Dropbox

How to sync only specific files to Dropbox or Google Drive

Find the Dropbox icon in the system tray at the bottom right corner of the screen (you may need to click the arrow to show all icons). Click this, then Settings gear at the top right of the resulting window. Choose Preferences .

In the Dropbox Preferences box, switch to Synchronize tongue. Here, you will see a button for Selective Sync . Click this button, then you can go and uncheck the folders you don't want to sync.

Hit Refresh and then OK when I finish. Dropbox will remove those folders from your PC, but they'll stay safe in your account.

How to use selective sync in Google Drive

How to sync only specific files to Dropbox or Google Drive

One of the best Google Drive storage tips is selective sync, which lives in a similar place to Dropbox. Find the drive icon in your system tray, then click the three dot Menu button followed by Preferences .

Here, switch to Google Drive tab to the left. Change Sync everything in My Drive a Sync only these folders . You can then uncheck anything you don't want to sync with your current computer.

Check the apps that show which folders are taking up the most space. Need a disk cleanup? See what's taking up space on your Windows PC Need a disk cleanup? Visualize what's taking up space on your Windows PC Oh, the pressure when you run out of disk space. What to remove? The fastest way to locate junk files is to use a tool that helps you visualize the file structure of your system. Read More