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davidmrofka's avatar
davidmrofka
New member | Level 2
2 months ago

Deleted file message after renaming a folder

I have been reorganizing my folders and renamed a large family photo folder.  I received a message that I'd deleted 17,000 files.  When I look at some of the "deleted" files it seems they are in the renamed folder (yay) but am still paranoid that something got deleted.  Google and discussion boards are a bit confusing...but am I right that they appear as deleted  but none the less are in the new folder? Thanks.


  • davidmrofka wrote:

    I have been reorganizing my folders and renamed a large family photo folder.  I received a message that I'd deleted 17,000 files.


    If you rename the folder within the Dropbox folder on your computer, then receiving a deletion notification can be expected. Look at it like this...

     

    Dropbox doesn't actually see what you're doing in the folder. It only receives notifications from your operating system. When you rename a folder, the OS simply tells Dropbox that FolderA no longer exists, and that FolderB does. To Dropbox, this seems like the deletion of one folder and the addition of another.

     

    Because Dropbox sees it as a deletion, this can sometimes trigger the deletion notice if the sync doesn't occur fast enough, especially when the renamed folder contains a lot of files.

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

    davidmrofka wrote:

    I have been reorganizing my folders and renamed a large family photo folder.  I received a message that I'd deleted 17,000 files.


    If you rename the folder within the Dropbox folder on your computer, then receiving a deletion notification can be expected. Look at it like this...

     

    Dropbox doesn't actually see what you're doing in the folder. It only receives notifications from your operating system. When you rename a folder, the OS simply tells Dropbox that FolderA no longer exists, and that FolderB does. To Dropbox, this seems like the deletion of one folder and the addition of another.

     

    Because Dropbox sees it as a deletion, this can sometimes trigger the deletion notice if the sync doesn't occur fast enough, especially when the renamed folder contains a lot of files.

    • davidmrofka's avatar
      davidmrofka
      New member | Level 2

      Thanks. That supports what I thought I found online, but was not sure and makes sense.  

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