I am trying to flash a 32gig micro sd card with octoprint for my 3d printer. It flashes to drive however the sd card is reduced down to 256mb. It seems to partion the sd card. Why is this?
The partition that you are seeing is likely just the boot partition, which is FAT32 and can be read by Windows or Macs. However, there are 4 additional partitions that should be present, as well, that are Linux partitions. I suspect they are there, and you just can’t see them. 
What happens if you try to boot the device, does it come online?
https://gparted.en.uptodown.com/windows/download Gparted image file to download and write to a Compact Disk ( CD) or to a USB Flash Drive. Booting this image will allow you to see all the partitions and their sizes. MS Windows can not see other partitions like Ext2, Ext4 that Linux uses.
https://gparted.org/liveusb.php Live USB version of Gparted
https://puppylinux.com/ This is the PuppyLinux Website
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/puppy-fossa/fossapup64-9.5.iso Download this .ISO image and use Etcher.io to burn into a USB flash drive for booting. PuppyLinux has the Gparted app. Using Gparted application will allow you to see the partitions and files on the microSD card.
PuppyLinux on a usb flash drive will give you an emergency OS to boot from USB flash drive and view files on your Windows computer.
Hope your 3D printing goes well and you learn more.
It boots. That’s not the problem. The issue is if I need to save setting on the drive. I need the room to add and save. Is the other 31 gigs available if I cannot see it on windows?
The other partitions are all in a Linux format that cannot be read natively by Windows, and I don’t have experience with any 3rd party tools that I could recommend.
If possible you could use a Linux Virtual Machine to modify the files on the SD card after flashing?