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Forum Discussion

dannis1's avatar
dannis1
Explorer | Level 3
28 days ago

Files not available offline, even though I've selected the option in my app's preferences.

I'm on Mac OS Sonoma 14.6.1

 

I have set the preference in Sync to make all files available offline but when I go into Camera Uploads in my Dropbox folder I need to right click and choose "Make Available Offline" to download the files from the cloud. I have restarted Dropbox on the Mac. Any ideas why I can't get files to download?

 

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    28 days ago

    dannis1 wrote:

    ... despite the setting in preferences ->sync that says make all files available offline.


    That setting only applies to newly synced files. If the files are already in your Dropbox folder as Online-only, changing that setting doesn't make the existing files Available Offline. You need to right-click them and set it yourself.

     

    You don't have to do it individually. You can select a group of files are just set the Camera Uploads folder itself to Available Offline (even if it already is) and it will update the status of all files within the folder.

  • Michael F.43's avatar
    Michael F.43
    Helpful | Level 5

    ah, it is now. But that then over-wrote my pre-existing selective sync settings on a sub-folder, which then proceeded to download 1GB I didn't want on this device.

     

    I reckon it's counter-intuitive for that setting only apply to "new" files, plus (as I found) it's in conflict with "selective sync" which I've always relied on to control what ends up being downloaded to a particular device

  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hi dannis1, thanks for posting here today! 

     

    How do you sync your camera uploads to your device? Do you use a cable to connect the two, or through the mobile app?

    I'm asking because the setting you're referring to (in the Dropbox Preferences) should apply to any files that sync from the website.

    So, for example, if a file is added to a folder online, it should sync locally as "available offline" or "online only" depending what you've chosen.

    When you manually change the status of the camera uploads folder or its content, do they remain "available offline"?

     

    Let me know more!

    • dannis1's avatar
      dannis1
      Explorer | Level 3

      The Sync is through the website and the Dropbox preference did nothing. However, setting the Camera Uploads folder to Available offline makes all the new files inside available offline, so it solves my immediate problem.

       

      Thank you

    • dannis1's avatar
      dannis1
      Explorer | Level 3

      The cell phone camera uploads photos to the "Camera Uploads" folder through the dropbox app. I would like those to be available on the Desktop machine. Now, I go into the DropBox -> Camera Uploads folder on the desktop machine and all of the photos are only available online, despite the setting in preferences ->sync that says make all files available offline. I can select all of the photos and choose make available offline to get them to download to the Mac but don't want to have to do that step.

      • Rich's avatar
        Rich
        Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

        dannis1 wrote:

        ... despite the setting in preferences ->sync that says make all files available offline.


        That setting only applies to newly synced files. If the files are already in your Dropbox folder as Online-only, changing that setting doesn't make the existing files Available Offline. You need to right-click them and set it yourself.

         

        You don't have to do it individually. You can select a group of files are just set the Camera Uploads folder itself to Available Offline (even if it already is) and it will update the status of all files within the folder.