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MichaelWeet's avatar
MichaelWeet
New member | Level 2
6 years ago

can't download files from my dropbox

I'm trying to download folders from Dropbox to my laptop. Some have worked but 2 folder won't download. Any reason why this is happening? Many thanks
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  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    6 years ago
    It shouldn’t be that hard Michael (MichaelWeet); sorry to hear that you’re feeling this way. Kindly bear in mind that you could still download your files using our website in smaller batches if you wish to avoid downloading our desktop app. From there, you can store them on any other location on your pc/ Mac just as any other file/ folder. 
     
    You may give my suggestion a go whenever you find some spare time & please do let me know how you get on with my advice on our discussion here!
Walter's avatar
Walter
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

Hi matryoshkan & mr c.1!

I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with downloading your files from our website; let's see what we can do to tackle this now. 

At first, could you let me know if you're running our desktop app on your computer? This would help a lot since all of your Dropbox files reside within your Dropbox folder and it would be only a matter of time to sync all of your content locally. 

mr c.1: As you mentioned that syncing has never worked for you, could you elaborate a tad on your situation? Were/are you running the desktop app and working on your files within the Dropbox folder? What is its exact status when you hover your mouse over the Dropbox icon within your computer's system tray/menu bar? 

As per the limits on downloading from our website, you can find more information in the relevant Help Center article. 

In any case, I'll be waiting for your response to assist further. 

matryoshkan: If you're indeed running the desktop app, you can right-click on your Dropbox folder and set it to be available locally (instead of Online Only). 

Keep us posted on your progress!

mr c.1's avatar
mr c.1
Helpful | Level 7
5 years ago

Hi Walter, 

thanks for your reply. 

(a) I am using windows 10 , with the app installed -- it won't sync. Currently I have only 1500 files (three folders) selctively synced and the app is crashing. 

(b) I succcessfully downloaded a 360mb .zip, whereby anything larger fails. Therefore, if I follow this success I would need to make three zips per GB; with 500GB of storage this would mean 1500 manual interactions. I am not going to do that. 

(c) RE: the file limits are in the help centre articles = this is not good enough. It needs to be up-front and in the terms of service (TOS). Sorry, but I cannot accept this obfuscation of such an important service limitation. 

(d) When I hover over the app I either get Starting...and occassionally it shows Syncing. In either case the app crashes after a few minutes of use. 

(e) Herbert @Dropbox support found three files that may have been responsible for sync problems due to naming conventions (funny how he could find that issue in moments, but end users like myself have no way of finding this out except by contacting support?). Having deleted the files in question the service is no different.

(f) I have been through multiple documents, literally days (I am estimating 50 hours now) of research and testing. I have uninstalled, reinstalled, followed the advanced install methods. 

It is at the point where I am asking Dropbox to initiate a migration for me to my Google Drive because I want away from your services before my next bill is due. My holiday end soon and I need to have this solved. 




  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    5 years ago

    Thanks for your extensive reply and your invaluable feedback on this mr c.1 - I appreciate you took the time to let us know all the troubleshooting you've done so far.

    Your description and most of the pain points you listed makes me wonder about the total amount of files you have in your Dropbox account since the performance of our desktop app can decline if you have more than 300,000 files syncing to the device in question. 

    I've also found your existing ticket that's within an expert's inbox already and passed your comments there so we can have all the relevant information under one place. 

    At this point, I'd suggest to continue troubleshooting this via your ticket since it's obvious that the issue you're experiencing is device and account specific and we don't have a visual of such info on our Community. 

    I understand this is not optimal, yet, I sure hope this helps at a certain extent. 

    PS: As per the failed downloads, I'd suggest using another browser or clearing your browser's cache since downloads under 20 GB should be working normally. 

    • mr c.1's avatar
      mr c.1
      Helpful | Level 7
      5 years ago

      Hi Walter, 

      thanks for your time.
      I am sitting here, having had another all night session trying to fix this...so any support from the techs would be greatly appreciated.  

      RE: file limits ... I am aware of this and I am selectively syncing only a few number of folders. At times dropbox decides to change my preferences and download all files... so i got back and re-establish my preferences and start again. It is beyond surreal now,

      I look forward to hearing from the tech team (soon?)

      Thank you

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