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Forum Discussion
Sync problems and files no more on harddrives
Hello I have a probleme with Dropbox on Mac Os Monterey - Dropbox app v174.4.5852. I have a lot of space on my hard drive and my Dropbox is not full. Frist time in 10 years. Somes files and folders in my Dropbox folders are not sync very well. Some of theme appear with a small cloud icone, means they are available online... but I NEVER DELETED THEM from my hard drive. I can't sync theme or it takes ages... They are just text files, Pdf, some pictures... Does it mean I have to do sync manually to bring them back on hard drive ? Why and how come DropBox app is deleting some files from my hard drive to keep them online ? This is a big concern and a massive reason to stop using DropBox. I can't accept that. There files are top important work files. I am loosing the trust in the app.
Hi starsk, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
It sounds like you have the newer version of the Dropbox desktop application for Mac OS.
This behavior occurs when files are 'Available', so they can be viewed on the machine, but they'll return to being online-only to free up space.
If you want files to remain on your machine, you can mark them as 'Available offline'.
If you have any further queries, feel free to message back.
- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi starsk, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
It sounds like you have the newer version of the Dropbox desktop application for Mac OS.
This behavior occurs when files are 'Available', so they can be viewed on the machine, but they'll return to being online-only to free up space.
If you want files to remain on your machine, you can mark them as 'Available offline'.
If you have any further queries, feel free to message back.
Thanks for your answer. I see what you mean. I really don't like this new behaviour. Is there a way to tell the Dropbox app to leave my files in peace on my hard drive ? What I liked with previous Dropbox is the fact to save online and sync the files from my Dropbox folder and trust eyes closed that they remain on my hard drive. I guess this is the so called "smart sync" fonction ? How to disable it ? thanks
- Jay
Currently, there isn't a way to disable it entirely. You could choose to mark the entire Dropbox folder as available offline, which will apply to all files and folders inside it.
