White Space Conflict

for context, this was their response:

Max, Jun 2, 2:08 PM PDT:

Hi Peter

Have you read this help article https://help.dropbox.com/syncing-uploads/white-space-conflict ?

Let me know if this helps.

Yes Ed, I did read that before I made my post.

I do understand how to fix the mess the Dropbox software creates, I have done it several times.

My question: How can I prevent this from happening? Better yet, will Dropbox repair the bug in their software?

Thanks.

Perhaps the best is to avoid saving files with the same name. You can add _ or - or number it if they have to follow some logic, example:

filename_a
filename_b

or

filename_1
filename_2

Ed: that is not a very practical method considering the company wide long standing file naming conventions, we use spaces, and thousands of files getting changed and updated daily.

If there is something I can do in the software settings I would like to know.

Ed: What is your title "dropboxer"? Do you work for dropbox or are you a real user?

thanks, Peter

crickets

The situation has gotten worse. this morning I found 25 GB of files and folders all labeled (White Space Conflict). pure trash. I deleted them all from my dropbox folder on my primary computer.

I did the same on my home computer...

I cleaned it out a few days ago. This floods my bandwidth at home and in the office, and it fills the folders.

If I can't get help I am going to have to quite using the sync tool on all of my computers.

Ed:

re:https://help.dropbox.com/syncing-uploads/white-space-conflict
=== it really does not say much at all ===
What's a white space conflict?

If two files with almost the exact same name exist in the same folder of your Dropbox, but the only difference is an extra space in the name of the file, a white space conflict will occur. Dropbox would rather be extra careful about saving your file if the file name is not identical in any way, so it will create a copy of the file rather than replace the existing file. The most recently changed copy will be appended with "white space conflict".

To reconcile the conflict, either rename the conflicted file to something unique, or make sure you avoid renaming the file with an extra space or character the next time you save the file.

=========

Hi Peter

Apologies for the delay. I suggest you open a ticket with our support team on www.dropbox.com/support including details of the issue and filenames so they can assist you further. 

Thanks and apologies again!

done, support ticket submitted.

I don't know what file names you have problems with.

Currently, on this machine, in my dropbox folder I have 29 files, and 8 folders (containing 448 items) that have (White Space Conflict) appended. ... 8,752 items, totaling 2.7 GB...

I provided a link to this thread. I have no idea what else I can provide.

I got a autoreply from dropbox support. Ticket #4349709: DB: White Space Conflict

I can not sign in with my dropbox email and password. If I change my password then I will have to setup multiple machines over again, I am not a happy person.