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Forum Discussion

Leo289's avatar
Leo289
Explorer | Level 3
9 months ago

Why the Dropbox constantly makes my files online-only even if I make them local?

Recently, I found that after I make some files locally, if I leave it aside like 10-20 minutes, I will find them online-only again. It is quite frustrating because it means that I have to constantly make things local in order to work on it. I checked my preference on Sync, it sets "available offline" for new files. I suspect, is there something called smart sync, which automatically make files online once your local storage is low? But this happens when my computer still have 260GB storage. So it's just weird.

Desktop
Dropbox Pro
Storage space
Sync
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    9 months ago

    Hi Leo289, could you try instead right clicking the file and choosing Make available offline and let us know if you experience this issue on those files as well?

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    9 months ago

    Hey Leo289 - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

     

    Could you let us know the exact OS version of your computer and the version and status of the Dropbox desktop app as shown in your menu bar/system tray at the moment?

     

    Have you tried rebooting your computer, quitting and relaunching the app or even reinstalling it since you first noticed this?

     

    Let us know more and we'll take it from there, Leo. 

    • Leo289's avatar
      Leo289
      Explorer | Level 3
      9 months ago

      Hi Walter,

       

      My OS version is Sonoma 14.3.1 (23D60); I think my dropbox version is v192.4.4605. I am on Dropbox pro.

       

      This is not very recent issue. I notice this issue for a while, and it became troubling recently because I need to work on large dataset. Yes, I have tried rebooting my computer, quitting and relaunching the app and reinstalling as well. It doesn't work.

       

      Another weird thing I noticed is that the "Storage" on my mac setting shows that my computer has 260GB unused space, but the "Manage hard drive space" from the dropbox shows that "Dropbox on hard drive" + "Other hard drive space used" take up 0.98T out of my 1T hard drive space. 

       

      best,

      Leo

      • Nancy's avatar
        Nancy
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        9 months ago

        Thanks for these screenshots, Leo! Can you send me one more of what you see after right clicking on your local Dropbox folder and going to “Get info”? 

         

        Are your files back to online-only at the time you take this screenshot or downloaded locally?

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