One drive online files take space on Macbook

Previously, I reported the issue was solved on my Mac with the Big Sur update.

And truly, it was. Until one day, without rhyme or reason, it wasn't again.

But I've solved the issue.

I reset my Mac to factory conditions, took out a Dropbox subscription and migrated everything from OneDrive to Dropbox.

Mind you; this didn't go without a hitch. Initially, online files from Dropbox were also taking up hard disk space.

BUT (and this is crucial): I was able to immediately start a chat with Dropbox support, which referred me to support by e-mail, after which the issue was SOLVED in 3 e-mails over the course of 3 days.

Meanwhile, over here in Microsoft-land: this thread had been going on for one-and-a-half years (which has been IGNORED by Microsoft), I've been in multiple calls with OneDrive-support and have exhausted e-mailchains with them. Without a solution. Infuriating.

My recommendation: forget OneDrive. Go to the competition.

I Agree it seems there is no definitive solution to the problem. The best I managed was a workaround.

In my case I have a 256 GB disc in the Mac, and I purchased a 2TB external disc. 

I now have OneDrive on that external disk, and keep all files downloaded on that disk, so I am not relying on the OneDrive ‘space saving’ feature. 

I have a Mac Mini, so having a permanently attached external disk is ok for me, 

And having all files downloaded means that I have a copy of all the files locally as well as in the cloud. 

Fusers with MacBooks, I appreciate this is not viable even as a workaround.

But the first thing is to clear that space used by OneDrive so the Mac can function normally. 

From my original post....

Unlinking the account shows the 'hidden' space that OneDrive was using. Nearly 120GBs in my case.

Update:

I decided to try and clear down all of the hidden used 'update' space following unlinking the account.

I installed the MacPaw CleanMyMac X software to try and do this.

I went though all the clean up steps that that product offers, which helped me free up a lot of disk space, but it did not clear down the space left as 'other' after unlinking one drive.

So I rebooted. After reboot all this 'other' space disappeared.

It is not clear whether CleanMyMac, or the reboot, or the combination of both was needed to clear the ‘other’ space.

 CleanMyMacX, however, was very helpful analyzing disk space usage. 

Another nightly recommended utility is DaisyDisk, https://daisydiskapp.com/, which is quite a bit cheaper than CleanMyMacX

I can’t confirm if the current MacOS version helps solve the issue as I have not experimented further with OneDrive

These solutions don't seem to work though?

I've moved OneDrive to an external drive and have reinstalled and also upgraded to Big Sur and yet still I have a whole load of my hard drive taken up by some kind of mirror of the OneDrive and I can't find the files to delete them.  Disastrous.  Basically just destroyed about 70GB of hard drive. 

Can't believe that neither Microsoft or Apple have bothered to fix this.

Hi Nick

If you look at previous posts from both myself and others you will see some solutions. 

But in short. 

Unlink one drive and delete any left over files. 

I then put the one drive folder on to an external drive. 

Not ideal, but no other solution it seems until MS/Apple sort this out finally.

I have the same issue.

I have One-Drive as part of a family subscription and so have 1TB, I have been moving files from my MAC external storage to my One Drive and its filled up my Mac.

All the files seem to have gone to the OneDrive, but my mac's 1 TB is full and I am not able to do anything on the Mac as its all Full and CLEAR SPEACE has been selected multiple times, and the FileFinder is showing all the files and directory with a blue cloud icon (on the cloud) 

Can you please help - I am IT and can not see why.

On my windows machine, it works fine and shows all the files on the OneDrive( cloud) and Zero MB used on the local drive!

Thanks

NIck