What is the "Direct Access" traffic source?

Most of the time, the Direct Access traffic source corresponds to a user that directly types in your URL, or saved it in his favorites (bookmarks). Another cause of Direct Access is the continuity of visits (30 minutes of inactivity on a page, and refresh on the same page). 

Any access that does not keep a trace of the previous page will be considered as a Direct access. 
i.e : emailing softwares, redirections etc...

Direct Access is categorized as a natural source. We can differentiate 3 types of direct access:

• Direct access (continuity of visit): a page of your own site is the referrer 

• Direct access (out of site): access to your site without referrer

• Direct access (local): the user lands on your site after clicking on a webpage that is hosted on their local hard drive