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Brucknerphile's avatar
Brucknerphile
Explorer | Level 3
4 months ago

Mac Finder continues to show large size of Dropbox Folder despite everything being online-only

Hi, everyone. Thanks in advance for your help, wisdom, and support.

 

I have a problem several others have experienced, but none of the solutions I found here seem to be working. Simply put, I have around 300 GB in my Dropbox folder and have everything set to be online only (or so I assume?) Mac finder is still showing this 300 GB as being used, and it is affecting other uses that require a lot of space (video editing, audio sample packages, etc.) I do need that space back. "Space Lens" in CleanMyMac shows the proper amount of space used ( a bit under 500 GB of my 1TB built-in drive on my MacBook Pro M1.

 

Here are the specs: Macbook Pro M1; 16GB RAM; 1Tb drive

OS: Sonoma 14.5

Dropbox Desktop Version: 204.4.5420

 

I have searched the Dropbox folder for the ".dropbox.cache" file, but it does not exist. Here is a screenshot of the only files that appear after invoking "shift-command-.":

 

 

Here is a screenshot (blurred for privacy concerns) of what the folder's directory looks like. Unless I'm mistaken, shouldn't all of these files be online only?:

 

 

The Dropbox directory resides in the "Cloudstorage" in the Library, which is precisely where I believe it should be.

 

Any help or insight the community can offer would be tremendously appreciated. Many thanks in advance!

JS

Desktop
Mac
Storage space
  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    4 months ago

    Sorry to see that you're having this issue, Brucknerphile.

     

    What is the current sync status of the Dropbox app, when you hover your mouse over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar?

     

    Also, is the "online-only files on Mac" option enabled in your account settings here?

     

    Let me know and we'll go from there.

    • Brucknerphile's avatar
      Brucknerphile
      Explorer | Level 3
      4 months ago

      Dear Hannah,

       

      Thank you so much for your swift and speedy reply.

       

      Hovering over the icon in the menu bar shows the software version and "up to date." However, the "online only files on Mac" toggle was not on. I tried that yesterday with no result as part of my due diligence before hopping on here, and there is no change this time either. Per the pop-up message, when I enabled the toggle, I waited a few minutes and restarted the desktop application. There is no change.

       

      Thank you again, and I await your input.

       

      JS

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        4 months ago

        Hi Brucknerphile, could you right click the Dropbox folder and choose 'Get info' and attach that screenshot here?

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