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Forum Discussion
Exclude specific folder names with Smart Sync
I can see there's been a lot of demand for the "ignore files/folders with selective names" feature, but Dropbox is yet to consider an implementation.
Largely, what this does is (1) save on uploadin...
Yes Selective Syncing does not solve this problem at all. Been using Dropbox since the start and now that I'm doing Node development the lack of this feature has ruined the service for me. With the large number of files and sym links in the node_modules folder, syncing becomes a nuisance. I just noticed this feature request was declined. I will be leaving Dropbox. So terribly dissappointed in you! Shame on you!
Rich
Super User II
Super User II
djm2 wrote:
Yes Selective Syncing does not solve this problem at all. ... With the large number of files and sym links in the node_modules folder, syncing becomes a nuisance.
Note that symlinks are NOT supported in Dropbox and can cause sync issues and loss of data. I don't know what removing a symlinked folder from Dropbox will do. Make a backup first.
Temporarily remove the node_modules folder from your Dropbox. Once Dropbox has finished syncing, create an empty node_modules folder in Dropbox and use Selective Sync to remove it. Once the folder has disappeared, move the original node_modules folder back to Dropbox. Dropbox will start to sync it, realize that one exists in your account already and will mark it with a grey icon, meaning a Selective Sync conflict. You should now have a folder in your local Dropbox folder that will not sync.
I'd suggest testing this with an unimportant folder first, as it's been a while since I last did this and things may have changed.
That's a pain to do every time I create a project. Over 850 people liked the feature request. Looking for an alternative service... I know sym links aren't supported. That's half the point! I don't want the node_modules folder synced!
This feature was requested at least 7 years ago and no progress has been made by Dropbox other than locking the post with 900+ comments on it asking for this functionality.
I've tried and tried and tried to make Dropbox work for my development environment with minimal success - *just* being able to ignore node_modules would make a huge improvement - so I'm ready to give up as it seems like Dropbox has no plans to implement it. Personally, I'm going to try the move over to Insync with Google Drive which has this functionality, can't be worse than locking up my CPU scanning thousands of files I don't care about :P
Use the Ignore List to Ignore files: https://help.insynchq.com/key-features-and-syncing-explained/general/use-the-ignore-list-to-ignore-files
Good luck!
Bye Bye Dropbox!! Uggg another Google service. I guess this is how they get us... by giving us the functionality we need.
