OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive folders
Files that live only in the cloud are downloaded for the backup and made online-only again, so your disk does not fill.
OneDrive, Dropbox and iCloud can keep a file online-only: its name and size are on your PC, its content is in the cloud, and it downloads when you open it. On a new Windows 11 PC, Desktop, Documents and Pictures live in OneDrive, and Windows makes older files online-only to save space. Many backup programs skip these files or store empty stand-ins. GBM AI backs them up.
What happens during a backup#
- A file that is only in the cloud is downloaded, as if you had opened it.
- It is backed up like any other file.
- It is made online-only again, the same as Free up space in Explorer, so your disk does not fill up.
Incremental and differential backups compare each file's size and date and download only what changed, so the first backup of a large OneDrive takes as long as downloading it and the ones after are quick. A full backup reads every file, so it downloads them all again: the first one, each new full the job starts (every 7 backups by default, under Settings ▸ Backup defaults ▸ Retention) and every Mirror run. For a large OneDrive, pick Incremental and a long gap between fulls.
A file you set to Always keep on this device stays on your PC, and so does one you open while the backup is running: only what the backup itself downloaded is made online-only again.
The run report says what happened: Files only in the cloud: 21 downloaded for this backup (5.1 MB), then made online-only again.
When a file cannot be downloaded#
The run backs up everything else and finishes Completed with skipped files. The file is listed under Skipped with the reason, and the next backup tries it again:
| Reason in the report | What it means |
|---|---|
| Only in the cloud; could not be downloaded (offline, or the sync app is not running) | No internet, OneDrive or Dropbox was not running, or the backup ran in the background with nobody signed in. Cloud apps download only for the person signed in. |
| Only in the cloud; not downloaded, its drive is short of space | Downloading it would have left less than 2 GB free on that drive. Free some space, or move the cloud folder to a bigger drive. |
| Only in the cloud; this job leaves such files out | The job's switch is off (below). |
Turning it off#
Settings ▸ Backup defaults ▸ Back up files that are only in the cloud decides it for new jobs. Each job has its own switch in the wizard, on the Settings step under Advanced. Off, online-only files are left out and listed in the report; files already on your PC are backed up either way.
Google Drive#
Google Drive for desktop shows your Drive as its own drive, G:. Pick folders there like any other; GBM AI reads the files through Google Drive and backs them up. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides appear there as small link files (.gdoc, .gsheet, .gslides): the backup keeps the links, not the documents. Download those from Google Drive as Office files if you want them in your backup.