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Forum Discussion
"Smart" sync keeps downloading Online Only Files
I am growing increasingly frustrated with this so called "smart sync" feature Dropbox has recently introduced (or rather forced upon me).
I have a number of files I've brought over to Dropbox using the finder on my Mac, that I have then marked as online only, in hopes that it would upload the files and then remove them from my local storage, which is limited. However Dropbox keeps randomly re-downloading the files to my system even after telling it that I want the files to be online only.
This feature is supposed to "save hard disk space", which it does seem to do temporarily before it just starts downoading things again. It seems as though the only safe way to keep files from my drive is the old fashioned selective sync from preferences, but this is a backward way of working, especially when I want to have the folder show up on my local drive so I can bring files into it, but I may want those files to only live online.
Has anyone found a solution to this abnormal behaviour (that, once again I might add, was forced on us as justification to increase the price of the paid service)?
same issues on my side. clean install of a windows 11. no antivirus.
- Megan
Dropbox Staff
Hi cannadi, I hope you're doing well!
Based on the fact that you posted here, I'm guessing that you have some issue with your Online Only files becoming local again, out of the blue, am I right?
Could you clarify the version of the app that you're using on your end? You can find this by locating your Dropbox icon on your task bar, next to your WiFi and hovering your mouse there.
Keep in mind that many processes on your machine look at files that you may have not manually opened and in order to fulfill these requests from these processes Dropbox syncs the files. Examples of this include:
- Backup services
- Antivirus
- Recently used file lists in individual apps
- Third party applications that monitor files in general- Navigating to a folder while within an app (such as an 'Open' dialog)
Please note that if there are applications that constantly or persistently look at your files, your files may come back following the behavior described above if you didn't recall them manually.
If this is the case, I'd suggest you to test by temporarily quitting or disabling applications systematically until you see that the issue is resolved. The last application that you closed when the issue no longer occurred may be the one performing this action.
Keep me posted on the results!
the version no. is 169.4.5684
it literally started downloading the files again the second i marked it online only
I can't understand how this keeps happening. The main point...no, the ONLY point of cloud storage is to store files in the cloud. Yet time and time again Dropbox starts an automatic download OF. EVERY. FILE.
I had a similar problem. Mine started downloading, filled my hard drive, told me there was not enough space to complete the sync (because I don't have 2Tb free) and like you, no amount of clicking "Online-Only" would stop it.
I uninstalled the dropbox app, deleted the Dropbox file from my hard drive and re-installed the app. It resynced all my files back onto the hard drive (ONLINE ONLY) and solved the problem.
I did this but it only fixed the problem for a few days. It's randomly synching so much old data that should be on-line only. I'm ready to move to Microsoft One Drive. I've been a DropBox user and advocate for at least 10 years, but something has changed, and the company is unresponsive. I have no idea how to get a person on the phone. Super frustrated.
- Megan
Hi hitammysue, thanks for posting here!
Have you contacted our Support team about this by any chance? If so, can you send me the ticket number in question?
Thanks a bunch!
Hi, i am also having this problem. Despite selecting multiple times for files to only be online only a couple of days later i have no space on my computer as they have downloaded again. how do i stop this?
- Walter
Hey Toffees1878 - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.
If you made sure that the desktop app is 'up to date' and not still syncing your changes, can you clear your cache folder and let me know how it goes?
Thanks!
Hi, how do i check the version as I can't seem to locate it? How will I upgrade or check its latest version? Should I uninstall and then re download the software? Thoughts please
- Fiona
Hi adamschoales. Thanks for posting about this issue.
I'd be glad to fix this for you if there is a technical issue there. :tools:
Note :pushpin: Smart Sync downloads files locally, when you open them to preview or edit. If you have third party apps syncing/using your Dropbox files. Smart Sync would recall the files locally for the third party app to use them.
Having said that, are you accessing the files locally when Smart Sync reports downloading? Is there a third party system accessing these files?
What version of the application do you have installed on your desktop?
Are all your files downloading or is this something you see with specific folders?
Looking forward to the additional information to help you!
Thanks.
Hi,
My Dropbox is doing the same thing - i.e. filling itself even after I designate files as "online-only".
You said that Dropbox will automatically start re-downloading when you, or a third-party app, accesses the files, correct? If my collaborators that have shared access to these files attempt to access them, would that explain why they download locally to my computer again?
I'm just trying to make sense of this because my hard drive fills itself every day and my computer starts burning up and it is driving me crazy. Even after I re-designate the files as "online-only", they don't disappear from my storage for a few tense minutes in which I can see my hard drive's capacity trickling from GB to MB...
Thanks.
- Rich
Super User II
mchamoun12 wrote:
If my collaborators that have shared access to these files attempt to access them, would that explain why they download locally to my computer again?
If you mean shared through Dropbox using shared folders or links, then no, not at all. The comments above are referring to any process or application local to your computer that attempts to access the files within your local Dropbox folder. Think file previews, antivirus or malware scans, backup processes, etc. If it touches the files on your local computer, it can cause Dropbox to download them.
Now, if you're sharing access to your computer with other people and they access those same files, then yes, they will be downloaded, because it would be no different from you accessing the files.
No third party files are accessing these. These are all files that I recently moved/copied to Dropbox from other locations, and set to "online only". Never even opened once moved to dropbox. And yet they still kept re-syncing.
This is especially problematic for the files that are quite large in size. I have home movies that are several gigabytes that I simply want to store on Dropbox as an offsite backup, but when they keep downloading back to my machine not only are they taking up several gigabytes on my machine but wasting several gigabytes of bandwidth to constantly re-download.
The Dropbox app is vr. 86.4.146 and I'm runnning Mac OS 10.14.6.
- Fiona
Please add a screenshot showing the space the Dropbox files take up from your computer at the time.
As for your syncing, I located a ticket you have with our support and took over to take a look at device specific details. You already have my response there adamschoales.
Feel free to get back to this thread and post the explanation I provided you there.
Thank you!
