Tom_M's avatar
Tom_M
Helpful | Level 6
11 years ago
Status:
Investigating

Add .dropboxignore directory to exclude folders without using selective sync

Please please please can you add a feature that allows folders to be excluded from the Dropbox account (on windows and mac). For sure I'm not the first person to request this, but I'm yet to find a good explanation of why it's not there. A quick google search reveals loads of people also looking for the same feature. I really like the workflow I have with dropbox, but it's getting to the point where I might switch providers in order to allow better selective sync.

I've seen hackish solutions using selective sync, but it would be great if this could be done in one of the following ways:
- global pattern matching eg "node_modules"
- a marker file in the directory like .dropboxignore
- a simple right click context menu "Ignore this folder"

Other than that, keep up the good work. Cheers.
Tom

desktop
sync
  • Hekar K.'s avatar
    Hekar K.
    New member | Level 1
    10 years ago

    This feature is a must. Keep it simple. I don't want to have to switch to "Selective Sync". It's a waste of my time.

     

    TLDR: +1

  • Guido Walter P.'s avatar
    Guido Walter P.
    New member | Level 2
    10 years ago

    Plus a billion. I have been using Dropbox since its very start. My two Dropbox Pro subscriptions are about to expire and, for the first time, I am considering not renewing them.

  • Marco F.19's avatar
    Marco F.19
    New member | Level 1
    10 years ago

    +100 Why isn't this a thing yet? Does dropbox even read this?

  • eddie j.'s avatar
    eddie j.
    New member | Level 1
    10 years ago

    This has been around for almost a year. They are not serious about it. I suggest you look at alternatives. I am currently investigating OwnCloud and it looks quite good. DigitalOcean have a prebuilt VM to be up in 1 minute and doesn't cost much at all.

    Its a shame that DropBox have dropped the ball on this.

  • Brad B.23's avatar
    Brad B.23
    New member | Level 2
    10 years ago

    I've tried MEGA but their software is not as good quality. With that said, this is definitely causing me to look for other syncing providers, and I am a paying Dropbox customer.

    Poor form on their part to not even respond to an issue that is more than a year old, and has a ton of requests.

  • Guido Walter P.'s avatar
    Guido Walter P.
    New member | Level 2
    10 years ago

    Hi guys,

    I found a workaround to have Dropbox ignore the content of a folder; credits go to Raymond of the Unofficial Dropbox Wiki:

    These steps will help you exclude a folder from syncing:

    1. Lets say you have a folder that you want to exclude called NON_CLOUD.
    2. We first create an empty folder that is renamed to NON_CLOUD and place it into Dropbox.
    3. Then, we use selective sync to unsync that folder: https://help.dropbox.com/syncing-uploads/selective-sync-overview
    4. Next, move your actual NON_CLOUD folder into the previous location of the empty NON_CLOUD folder.
    5. That folder will have a grey circle with a “minus” sign and will not be synced to Dropbox.

    It is not ideal but it does work for me.

    Cheers,
    Guido