Some of my files show up as zero bytes

It has a cloud icon. Another file in the same folder has a green check mark. I am on macOS 12.4. The app reports all my files are up to date.

Hey idontgetoutmuch, thanks for the info! 

If you right click on said file, do you see the option to make available offline by any chance? 

---

Nancy wrote:

Hi idontgetoutmuch, I hope you’re doing well! 

 

Can you let me know if you see any syncing icon next to this file on your desktop app, and what that icon is (green checkmark/cloud icon etc)? 

 

Also, what OS are you using and what’s the current syncing status of your Dropbox app?

---

I have a green checkmark. I am on macOS 12.4. Dropbox says my files are up to date.

Dropbox on the web says the file is 500 kb - the dropbox app says it's 0 kb.

Ok so I have to right click and then select make available offline. I never used to have to do this 😞

So having to click on thousands of files to synchronise them really makes dropbox unusable.

I've been having this problem for a long time. I figured Dropbox had screwed something up, as lots of very old files were showing as zero bytes; some PSDs, some text files, lots of files (but crucially, not all of them). My theory was that, at some point, Dropbox decided to sync the zero-byte placeholder file back over the actual file. However, I've just searched for a text file in my Dropbox, and the search metadata finds the text, even though the file's content (on the web, and on my Mac), is empty, zero bytes. The file's history only shows it being created, at 2.04kb, but when I restore or download that version, the file is empty. Is there a way to fix this? Where has my data gone?

Hi antoniojl, have you tried marking those files and folders as available offline, in order for the file to be local on your machine?

Yes, I tried this, but the files still appear as empty. In fact, they have the file _size_ of the full file according to Dropbox web (i.e. 2kb in the one case I mentioned), but upon being opened by a hex editor, the contents are zeroed out entirely, e.g.:

0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
...
0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 

This is also true of the files in other formats (e.g. PSDs). This definitely seems like it occurred in an incident; not all my files are affected, and it's only ones of a certain age (rather old/infrequently accessed). Does Dropbox even still have my data (as per the web search being able to show a preview of the empty text files), or is it actually lost?

It does sound like the files were either edited or changed in some way when synced to Dropbox.

Does the version history of the file show the original file at some point?

No, there's only the one "Added" entry. Here's a shot of a file that is zeroed out, and has no changes reported since it was "Added" in 2019.

However, another file in the same folder, a JPEG export of the same PSD, is absolutely fine... but, curicially, it shows as "Added" in 2013.

Given that this JPEG file was exported from the original PSD (and stored in the same folder the whole time), it doesn't make sense that it was made in 2013 and the source PSD was made in 2019. I recall making this file when I worked at Last.fm... in 2013.

So, it appears that Dropbox has lost and forgotten the original 2013 PSD file and presumed that this empty, zeroed-out 2019 placeholder PSD file is an original.

This could mean that this is a different file to the original, which could've been deleted, so it would be a different file (hence no version history). 

It could be visible as a separate file if you click 'Show deleted files' via the ellipsis at the top.

Afraid not... just the two files in here when I enabled deleted files.

Thanks, it's possible that the file was deleted outside of the recovery period, so it isn't possible to view it from there.

If you enter the file in the search bar, can you see any other copies of it?

Is the problem ever going to get fixed? I am just running in to it again where my git repo didn't replicated correctly. So now what do I do?

Hi idontgetoutmuch, what behavior are you experiencing? Have you checked that the files were successfully uploaded originally on the site, and checked the events page?

I have many files that show as 0 bytes but when I click "make available offline" then show the correct size and have the correct content. Fine if it's the odd file but I have thousands of such files.

I am trying to download the whole directory as a zip file and then unzip it. It's very big and taking its time.

So now I have all the files with the correct size but the modes are different - sigh

There are no other copies. These files were never deleted; they've lived here since they were created.

Thanks for the info, antoniojl, it seems that there isn't any other version of the file available on the Dropbox site, so it wouldn't be possible to recover them via Dropbox. 

idontgetoutmuch, what happens if you mark entire folders as available offline? Do the files download in bulk?

Hmmm... "so it wouldn't be possible to recover them via Dropbox" sounds a lot like "Dropbox has lost your files"

What I don't understand is that zeroed-out text files still show a preview in the web search view... indicating that there's metadata somewhere. Is there a way to access/download that?

Could you attach a screenshot showing what you're describing?

Sure. This file named 'Gone.txt' still shows up in Dropbox Web search as being 2.01kb and containing these words.

The version history only shows it being created, then moved:

Viewing the file in Dropbox Web shows a completely empty text file:

As does opening it from the (completely synced) Dropbox folder on my Mac:

But opening it up in a Hex editor shows just over 2kb of zeroes:

So either:
- I created this file like this intentionally, for some reason. But if so, why is Dropbox aware of some search metadata that was never in the file (remember there are no changes in the version history)?
Or
- Dropbox had the original file containing the text that we can see in the search metadata, then at some point there was an incident whilst syncing, and Dropbox lost the real data in the file, but still remembers the metadata. I presume Dropbox creates these all-zeroes placeholder files while syncing for the first time, to make sure there's room for the data it's going to fill them in with, as that data is downloaded. Maybe. because this file has never changed in size, there are no reported changes to Dropbox, hence nothing to re-sync/show in the version history. So then at some point, maybe Dropbox Mac has become confused, and believes the all-zeroes version to be the true file? But if so, then there would surely be a version history?

Hi Ive been having the same issue - thousands of files zero bytes - double clicking will load the file but I cannot preview with spacebar. Should I reinstall dropbbox? This is very worrisome 

Hey EE272, thanks for the nudge here.

Are you referring to using the spacebar to do a QuickLook preview? 

And are you able to do this with other files outside the Dropbox folder?