Dropbox Project Infinite is aiming to solve a common issue everyone faces these days - accessing large amount of data from the cloud without saving it locally and hence compromising on the storage space. It plans to do this by showing files stored in the cloud the same ways as files stored locally on Windows and OS X. The feature should be immediately useful to users of devices with limited storage space, such as ultraportable laptops.

Project Infinite will enable users to seamlessly and securely access all their Dropbox files from the desktop, regardless of how much space they have available on their hard drives. Everything in the Dropbox that you’re given access to, whether it’s stored locally or in the cloud, will show up in Dropbox on your desktop. If it’s synced locally, you’ll see the familiar green checkmark, while everything else will have a new cloud icon.

Unfortunately Dropbox has not yet announced any pricing or availability for the new Dropbox Project Infinite feature which may only be rolling out to business users, although it would be an extremely handy feature to have on the $10 a month consumer package offered by Dropbox as well.

As per Dropbox, through Project Infinite, teams will gain:

  • **Visibility in context: ** Every file you’ve been given access to—even ones that aren’t stored locally—will appear in Windows File Explorer and Mac OS X Finder. You can quickly drill down through folders to find what you need, without the lag of a network drive or the inconvenience of a web app. Plus, you can view key info like file size, and creation and modification dates through your desktop file system, no downloading required.

  • Real-time access: Files and folders stored in the cloud can be organized with familiar drag-and-drop simplicity, right from the desktop. And when you need to open something from the cloud, just double-click it like any other file. Dropbox will automatically sync and open the file for you.

  • Universal compatibility: For IT teams, Project Infinite works the way your teams work, supporting cross-platform access and backwards-compatibility on any computer running Windows 7 or higher, or Mac OS X 10.9 and up. IT teams can bring the power of Project Infinite to the systems they manage and you can share and collaborate with ease.

Source - Dropbox business blog