Add .dropboxignore directory to exclude folders without using selective sync

I'll say it one more time and then tap out before i get shot.

If you would like certain folders/files stored inside your dropbox folder (where ever that may be) you can right click on it and select 'don't sync to dropbox'. the files will no longer be synced, no copies will be kept, you will not see them appear on the web version, nor will anyone else associated with that folder or account be able to see them. They will be gone.

This process can also be easily reversed with right click command, sync to dropbox. 

This works on both mac and pc. if you don't have the right click commands there are simple PowerShell and Apple/Unix code that handle the process, see this article here or if you're struggling to get it to work message me.

Is there any official news about this feature? This is really a very important feature. I hope the official can pay attention to it.

Let it go. The ship has sailed.

Comparing Dropbox to GitHub is apples and oranges. There’s similarities, but there’s inherent differences. Whether or not Dropbox could have built something to solve this syncing dilemma, who knows. As others have said, it’s not that the hacks don’t work, in controlled environments, it’s that they always have tradeoffs. They never fully solve the problem, not in a way that’s truly usable.

And it’s ok. Well, it’s not really, but it’s ok to let it go. Until it’s solved by Dropbox itself, which I kinda feel isn’t necessary even a Dropbox issue, it’s a lost cause.

Seeing this thread has now reached 100 pages, I thought I’d login to commemorate where we started, where we’ve been, where we are, and all the progress we hadn’t made.

Keep fighting the good fight. Or don’t. 

It wouldn't be copy and paste a .ignore file because the .ignore file will autosync to Dropbox in the same way that GitHub does. The issue is the order of operations which have to be done when setting up any new device: (1) sync with current state of your dropbox, (2) turn off sync, (3) make new folder that will be ignored, (4) issue command to ignore that folder, (5) turn on sync. By natively supporting a .ignore file, dropbox would mitigate the need for steps 2-5. Those steps currently require either manual input or running an external script, that is much more prone to user error.

how do you know 'The folders will still natively sync with the Dropbox backend'? when you execute that command I'm seeing no trace of it anywhere including a watcher I've got going at the same time. It's using powershell and mac/linux native commands that are used for many things other than DB, so I'm not sure DB have much control over it as its not a command made by them they're just leveraging on it. at the end of the day, right click, don't sync, it's done and it'll be immediately replicated all on that account/shared in.

Having said that im not adverse to a full blown dropbox made solution necessarily but be careful what you wish for because there's no guarantee it'll be better or easier than this one and from past experience, it rarely is. Moving and copying an .ignore file around the place feels prone to lots of mistakes as you say. anyway, all good. working excellent for what i need. I have this going off when i open a particular app so it 'checks out' that project and returns it to dropbox on exit.

It's a nice hack, but doesn't quite accomplish the same features that would be available if Dropbox created an .ignore file. The folders will still natively sync with the Dropbox backend, which can cause item conflicts if any custom ignore script isn't executed in proper order. And let's be honest here, people are going to make mistakes. If Dropbox makes this an .ignore file natively then it will avoid item conflicts.

I've ran several tests on mac and PC:

•  Selecting 'don't sync' via right click menu - confirmed. folder will remain on the machine executing the command and will dissapear from all others including the web app.
• Selecting the opposite via right click (sync to dropbox) menu - confirmed. The folder will reappear on the other computers and the web app. 

So the feature definitely isn't per machine in terms of sharing but can be run by anyone (which could be kind of dangerous i suppose).

Given its a very basic line of code in pwsh (PC) and terminal (Mac/Linux) there are a myriad of ways to trigger it as the OP mentioned would like. I have got the following to work:

• Executing commands via context menu (depending on your system, you may not have the command 'dont sync to dropbox' inside the dropbox context menu).
• Executing via system scheduler periodically and;
  • triggered upon launch of an app;
  • triggered by launch of an app AND presence of Folder.ignore file;
  • triggered by running shortcut of Folder.ignore
  • Setting Folder.ignore as environment variable DROPBOX_IGNORE_PATHS which could be shared with a team and provides a master list of all the folders currently in this state. could live on a server etc.
  • there are so many ways to trigger it on the Mac i won't waste anyones time writing it all down. 

• I

ah sorry I didn't realise we were talking about remote connections. the OP wrote:

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"

To me, thats exactly what 'don't sync to dropbox' does.

To be clear then, are you saying that if I were to set a folder as 'don't sync to dropbox' and then on another computer create a new file inside that very same folder and hit save etc it actually will sync/upload to the DB because that command is per machine?

@projectdeliverypartners Dude you’re not using this at the level we are discussing. It’s not just handling one folder and you’re done. It’s accessing sync operations across several devices, through remote operations. As is, without an ignore file and just with using the ignore command, you have to manage each folder for each device separately.

The OP mixed up selective sync with ignore 10 years ago, and for some reason the admins keep merging this with other threads that more lucidly state the problem. It’s about ignoring a local folder across several devices, as they are being setup. That’s the whole point of a an .ignore file. Again, think about GitHub and why it has one. 

nicc777  the files don’t have to exist as it allows the use of wildcards so you could do all files of a type or partial name match if you knew what they would be or an enclosing folder “foldernme/*”. You would at a minimum have to know where the files are about to be created in the case where they are yet to be created.