You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
Forum Discussion
Feedback on the new desktop app "ignore files" feature.
@Daphne that's great news! I look forward to trying it out.
But it would also be nice to have a configuration file, like ".dropboxignore", to list paths or patterns to exclude. The reason is that extended attributes are tied to the actual file or folder, and will be gone if the file or folder is deleted and recreated.
The common use case for this is a software build folder that gets deleted and recreated on clean builds. Under xattr system, the "new" build folder would sync to Dropbox even if the "old" build folder had the necessary com.dropbox.ignored xattr.
I use Dropbox together with Unity projects. Dropbox gives a lot of conflicts when the folders created by Unity "Library" and "Temp" are synchronized on the server.
Recently I found this article that solved this problem:
https://help.dropbox.com/en-US/files-folders/restore-delete/ignored-filesBut, it would be great if you put a new option in "Selective Sync" through which we can ignore sync for some folders from dropbox. I wish I could choose a file/folder to be "Local Only" directly from Dropbox, without having to write some lines of "code" in PowerShell (to keep some folder "Local Only" .. not "Online Only").
This problem is common in those who use Dropbox with Unity projects.
Sigh... and if it wasnt bad enough... now this:
It seems even if you do manage to set the folder on ignore, dropbox doesnt "really" ignore it, it just does not "upload/sync" it, but it still indexes it and tries to read/sync any files in it.
So say, if you have a folder called "GITHUB TESTS" and set it on ignore, then dump 750,000 files in there, to test something out, your dropbox will take 3-7 days or more to "index" them all, meanwhile blocking any meaningfull or important syncs from happening until its done
And if any of the files in there is an exe or dll, or anything that the OS locks, then good luck, because that file will cause dropbox to "hang" saying "unable to sync XX file, its in use" and hanging your entire queue until you unlock that file, also preventing any further files from syncing.
Soo.. were back to square one negative selective sync.. and the fact this issue has been known for 6 months snd has not been addressed even tho its probably a simple fix does not bring me any confort.
Cmon guys were trying to be loyal, but you are not helping us here... Dropbox keeps getting worse.. not better, its trying to become easier for "normal" people to use, while forgetting its the sys admins of the world that make the purchasing desicions, if i wanted it more "dumbified" id just switch to google drive, the only true "upgrade" to dropbox in the past 3 years was it doesnt take 3 days now to show all the files in selective sync but other than that you have added a ton of features that do not make this better.
Here in my office all my users keep complaining and asking why are we still hanging with dropbox and not moving to onedrive like "normal corporate people" and every time I keep defending dropbox because its a "real" advanced hard drive syncing service vs just a file/folder syncing service but every day it gets harder to defend it.
Were paying $1250 a month here, my users are angry, at some point the dam is going to break, its unsustainable, please help us help you, if you just "ignore" us for 6 months, and we just "ignore" them as well hoping someday you guys will fix it, I will be the one replaced and dropbox along with me in short order.
Just wanted to put this out there.
If we had never had this feature in the first place i would understand it, it wouldnt be a problem but since it was working fine before with selective sync remove and now it does not, my users here are up in arms, you cannot remove a service breaking feature for a user without providing a suitable replacement, or at least a workaround, its just bad customer care.
lll hold on as long as I can and hope you make a fix soon, but if it does not come soon enough i do think this will definitely be a deal breaker here for my users and they will force me to switch services, i know you hear this a thousand times here, but im just trying to state a fact, im not being melodramatic.
Thanks for reading all of this, i hope it explains a little bit why some of us are frustrated with this.
Ok so ive found a workaround... its not .. fun... and i do not recomend it unless you exactly know what you are doing and its going to cause all sorts of problems and in general its a bad idea, but it does the job, sort of.
Its based on this:
https://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/154423-block-applcation-access-folder.html
Essentially you have to edit dropboxes windows execution permissions so it runs on its own user, a user which has only access to read/write its own EXE folders, some windows folders and the dropbox storage folder, once thats done you set them to ignore then block access to the folders you do not want to sync.
Dropbox now throws all sorts of errors but it "works" it now properly ignores that folder because it cannot read it due to permissions, however you on your computer can work normally on it.
Definitely not the kind of solution i expected but at least its working.
Anyone on Windows found that Set-Content doesn't work for folders any more? It uesd to but now just throws an error.
OK, it doesn't work in newer versions of PowerShell. You'll need to find v1 (for me this was in C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe). Using PowerShell 7 won't work.
There is a lot of headaches related to currently available feature about either the meaning of the term or how it's implemented and working. What is the meaning of "Ignored"? 🤔 Let take a look here:
Once ignored, the file or folder remains where it is in your Dropbox folder on your computer’s hard drive, but it’s deleted from the Dropbox server and your other devices, can’t be accessed on dropbox.com, and won’t sync to your Dropbox account.
Strange, is the action "delete"-something matching with "ignored"-something? 🤔 I don't think so.
Other consideration: Is "ignore" mean that any change should be ignored completely? Is this mean Dropbox application doesn't observe any change? Also, a change in the cloud might be ignored, if matched local entry gets ignored. 🤔 Is this work so? Rhetorical questions, of course!
About the implementation: How could be ignored a entry (file or directory) which will be available in future or periodically could be removed and reappear again? Attributes only appear on existing files and get gone together with the corresponding file (i.e. no way). In many cases in one directory' tree could be available files, target of sync, and other, usually temporary caches, which have to be ignored. Such case could be extremely difficult to manage. Such situations could appear mostly in development projects, but also a temporary files get "fired" using a text processing applications and other everyday tools. It's very tedious and can engage a huge traffic for meaningless sync (sometimes destructive)!
The solution: Should not be so difficult a filter for files and/or folders to be implemented in the application settings. 😉 Good place could be "Sync" tab in "Dropbox Preferences". Here could be a table, for example, where different types of filtering criteria would be filled. Good criteria could be simple path (either absolute or relative to the Dropbox root), simple file/folder name template (using special symbol, like star-*, for example) or just particular extension, powerfull option could be regular expression, ... and others. Users will fill all needed criteria, as much as needed for every criteria type available. Just noted options are good enough for start. This list could extends over time, according customers needs/queries.
Current try for solution could be left for back compatibility, but is unusable in many cases! That's why - Please, Reconsider it.
We have been advocating for this for years.
The proposed solution is the .dropboxignore file. It does not have to be fancy, but since .gitignore is a standard for repositories, for sync it would breathe life into a problem that despirately needs as solution, and has needed one for many years. Just ignore any path specified in the file, relative to the file. Don't tough it, don't even index it, it is going to change so allow me to tell you to ignore it.
I had to sit through a sync of 5000+ files last night because the command line "solution" did not work, and I ended up with a conflicted "node_modules" folder. Great way to waste everyone's time.References to simlilar requests/comments to show we are not exaggerating:
- https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-ideas/Ignore-folder-without-selective-sync/idi-p/5926/
- https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-ideas/Reconsidering-quot-Ignored-quot-feature/idi-p/453560
- https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-files-folders/How-to-manually-stop-sync-of-a-folder-but-still-retain-local/m-p/430755
- https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-installs-integrations/Feedback-on-the-new-desktop-app-quot-ignore-files-quot-feature/m-p/456202
- https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-files-folders/I-don-t-see-the-option-to-ignore-a-folder-within-my-right-click/td-p/437553
- https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-Business-ideas/Exclude-temp-files-from-sync-by-pattern-extension/idc-p/458011
Indeed! Excited here too about the new ignore attribute! As mentioned in the Ignore with Symlinks post, there is an upside and a downside to each approach. The xattr method works perfectly by not pushing content to the cloud, HOWEVER, upon EVERY change within node_modules, Dropbox reindexes it triggering a long-running processor load which delays other legitimate uploads outside that folder. I don’t know why Dropbox is doing this, unless the it allows re-including deeper content, but wish it "truly ignored" the entire directory. The symlink method avoids reindexing entirely, so there is zero-impact when changes occur. If xattr ignore could be configured to truly ignore and not reindex, then it would be perfect for all requirements.
Is anybody else with early access to xattr ignore seeing reindexing on folders with > 50K files? To test it, after applying each ignore method (xattr ignore, and symlink ignore), delete “all contents" of the node_modules folder (not the node_modules folder itself!!), then `yarn install` and watch Dropbox behavior + processor load. How long does it take for Dropbox to return to idle?Yep - I am also finding these exact issues with the existing proposed solution.
Why can't I just give the Dropbox indexer patterns to ignore?! Exactly the way Megasync, pCloud, etc. make possible; this doesn't seem like rocket science.
Even if it is more complicated than I imagine, surely it is much simpler than many of the other technical feats Dropbox has accomplished in the past.
I agree, other sync services like pCloud work just fine and allow you to put in extension, filename, or folder name and just have it excluded from sync. And this needs to be implemented via a web admin so the exclusion can be done for all client computers that connect to the service. I don't want to go around to every computer and update the exclusion list everytime something changes.
Also, this is not just a developer issue. There are many, many other use cases where folders / files need to be excluded. As an example, Adobe Lightroom creates massive changes in the folders and files for a photo library catalog. The vast majority of them need to be excluded. So don't think this is just a developer issue.
Absolutely not just a developer issue. I (used) to the use the selective sync fudge to leave out machine specific files when syncing an application across mulitple devices. It worked fine and I was happy.
Now it's broken and that increase in subscription fee is looking like poor value for money.
dkobia, I agree xattr is not ideal for node_modules as it's currently implemented. It made my processor run hot all the time due to reindexing with every change. I am using symlinks (aliases) at this time and it works perfectly across systems with no processor load impact. I would truly appreciate a .dropboxignore file that ignores targets, just like .gitignore (a hard-ignore, no reindexing whatsoever).
I posted this above, but will link it again as the symlink ignore method works like a charm for node_modules: SymLink Ignore Method
Dropbox team -- Pelase add a real .dropboxignore w/o reindexing.
This. A thousand times this. I'm a developer, and my project will constantly generate loads of temporary data that doesn't need to be synced across dropbox. I don't even understand why selective sync doesn't work like this to begin with. If all I wanted was to delete the folder, I'd delete the folder myself. Selective sync is useless the way it works now.
Yes please, come on devs, you are devs too, I know you understand the need for this, just get the message through to the pointy haired bosses ; )
.dropboxignore (folder specific)
.dropboxigonreglobal (in dropbox root folder)I too need such a feature. I'm using Unity and the xattr method doesn't work for the Temp folder which gets created and deleted constantly. Selective sync used to work fine for this and indicated with the gray minus icon. But in recent versions of Dropbox, creating a folder with the same name now gets instantly renamed to "Temp (Selective Sync Conflict)". This causes Unity to crash immediately because it can no longer find its files.
Someone else has experienced this as well:
Can't use selective sync to ignore (node_modules) folders anymore
Kind of a shame really. Dropbox (as a company) has clearly underestimated the number of its users using the selective sync fudge (ie create a folder with the same name as the file you want to exclude etc etc)
They removed/broke this and don't have a legitimate solution ready to go in its place, leaving people high and dry and probably investigating other platforms for a solution.
This kind of behaviour never bodes well for the share price btw.
yeah, if anyone has suggestions for other platforms that handle developer usage sensibly, I'd be happy to hear...
It's a killer feature better than OneDrive. I would switch to use Dropbox if this feature has been implemented.
I think we should use .dropboxignore. There are many folders will be generated(or regenerated) after compiling, we can't xattr it if don't exist
