In its first platform update since going public, Dropbox Inc. today rolled out a new way for users to reduce the amount of space that shared files take up on their hard drivers.

The cloud storage giant is making Smart Sync, as the tool is called, available for all teams subscribed to its Business plans. The launch follows an extended testing period that saw the capability made accessible on a limited basis to companies signed up for Dropbox’s early access program.

Smart Sync addresses what was previously a major inconvenience for workers who share a lot of data with their colleagues. The issue stemmed from the fact that although Dropbox stores information in the cloud, users must sync folders to a client on their local machine to access their contents. That raised the need for professionals to download upwards of gigabytes worth of team files in some cases.

With Smart Sync, a user can preview the files in their team’s shared cloud folder and sync only what they need to their local machine. Downloading an item is a simply matter of double-clicking the appropriate placeholder icon in the interface. After a worker is done with a file, an “Online Only” option makes it possible to free up the hard drive space.

The latter option is particularly handy when dealing with large items. Graphic designers, for example, could use Smart Sync to download the specific video file they’ve been asked to review by a colleague and then delete it afterwards to make more room for other projects.

Dropbox is rolling out Smart Sync alongside new administrative controls designed to ease the onboarding of new users. According to the company, administrators can set teamwide sync policies to determine automatically what files and folders are downloaded when a worker first installs the Dropbox client. An archiving feature makes it possible to mark items belonging to a finished project so that only up-to-date data is synced to users’ machines.

Besides onboarding new workers, the feature can also ease the setup process for an existing user looking to access Dropbox from another device. Both the administrative features and Smart Sync are available immediately.

Dropbox’s cloud storage competitors have released their own selective download features in recent quarters. Box Inc. rolled out a desktop client last year that includes an option similar to Smart Sync, while Microsoft Corp. offers a rival capability called Files On-Demand in OneDrive.

Image: Dropbox