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Forum Discussion
Files Shared Between Computers; "Make available offline" & "Make online-only"
Hello all. I'm a music producer and I work between two different Mac computers (a Mac mini desktop setup and a MacBook Pro for when I'm on the go). I'm currently using a folder inside of Dropbox to store all of my DAW song files (DAW stands for "Digital Audio Workstation"; it is the software I use to produce my music and save those song files into Dropbox).
I've been confused about something concerning the way Dropbox handles the relationship of my song files between computers. I tried putting all of my song files in "Make online-only" mode. At first, I thought this would work, but I ran into an issue with my production software. Recently, the software started notifying me that many of my song files are either broken or unreadable. I studied about this online a bit and I believe it has something to do with the files being set to "Make online-only" in Dropbox. I really wanted to keep the files online and work that way if possible, so that I could save some internal drive storage on both of my Macs, but I've realized now that I probably can't do that and I'll need to set both of my Macs to make files in Dropbox "available offline."
That said, I need some clarification on what will happen if I work this way... When I work on files set to "Make available offline" mode, I'm aware that these files are being stored in the internal storage of each of my Macs, correct? I'd prefer to not have to take up too much internal storage, but I can live with it if that's what will have to happen to keep the files readable to my software..
ALSO... This is my biggest concern... Since it looks like I will have to work in "Make available offline" mode, when I make updates to a song file on one computer, will both computers still automatically update, like when I was working in "Make online-only" mode? This is a crucial aspect of my workflow that I'll be needing because if I'm out of town working on several songs at a time on my MacBook Pro, I need the song files to be updated back at home on my desktop Mac as well.
Thank you for reading and I hope I can get some advice on this because it would really help me fix my workflow.
- Walter
Dropbox Staff
Hi there astokesmusic, thanks for joining the Community and thanks for your elaborate report.
I'm afraid you're correct on your assumption that you'll need to work on files that you've already made available offline on your computer(s) since the software you're using seems to be having issues with the online only files (since these are placeholders and not the actual files containing all the data).
And yes, your files should update as normal, as long as you have the Dropbox desktop app running on both computers.
I know it's not optimal, but I hope this helps!
- @Walter Ahh, okay thank you for clarifying this for me. So are you saying that if I have the Dropbox Desktop app running on both computers with “Make available offline” mode set on both, and I make some edits to a music session file on one of those computers it will not only update that offline file to the computer I’m on, but it will also update the same file on my other computer? How does this work if I’m working offline and things aren’t being updated in a shared way through the internet?
Also, am I right that everything will have to be stored in internal storage of both my computers?- Rich
Super User II
astokesmusic wrote:
... I make some edits to a music session file on one of those computers it will not only update that offline file to the computer I’m on, but it will also update the same file on my other computer?Yes. Any changes you make to the files in your Dropbox folder will first sync to your account, then they will sync down to any other devices you have connected.
How does this work if I’m working offline and things aren’t being updated in a shared way through the internet?Setting a file as Available Offline doesn't mean you're working offline. It means the file exists in the Dropbox folder on your local drive and will still be available IF you were working offline (disconnected from the Internet). Now, if you actually are working offline (disconnected from the Internet) and you make changes to a file in your local Dropbox, as soon as you connect to the Internet again, Dropbox will start to sync any changes that it has.
If a file is set as Online-only, the file doesn't exist on your local drive. The only thing there is a placeholder file. If you try to open an online-only file while you're connected to the Internet it should be downloaded automatically. I say should because some applications (as you've noticed) don't work well with Online-only files and will say they're damaged or corrupt. This is usually because the program isn't waiting for the file to download before opening it, so it ends up opening the placeholder file. In those cases, you need to mark the file as Available Offline, allow it to sync and then open it. When you're done with the file you can mark is as Online-only again.
Also, am I right that everything will have to be stored in internal storage of both my computers?If the application won't open a file that's marked as Online-only, then yes, you'll need to have all files marked as Available Offline. You can't open a file directly from the Dropbox servers. Either it's Online-only and gets temporarily downloaded so you can open it, or it's Available Offline and you can just open it without waiting for it to download.
