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Dropbox keeps trying to download and sync files set to online only
I had this same issue with a particular folder when I first set up my new Windows 10 laptop, but closing and restarting Dropbox seemed to fix it. (Derp.) Today it randomly started trying to downl...
Dropbox is randomly trying to download the problem zip files yet again. :/ Twice so far I've had to reset them to online only. Frustrating!
Just as before, I was not trying to view the files or interacting with them in any way, not indexing as far as I'm aware, didn't even have File Explorer or the Dropbox folder open, no virus scan running, nothing.
I shouldn't have to create a new online-only folder (set to not index, since there's definitely a conflict between Dropbox Smart Sync and Windows indexing) just to try to stop this from happening but I can't think of anything else.
I just noticed, based on my own thread here, that the last two times this happened were on Fridays. Just like today! Is there some weird Dropbox setting that switches online-only files to try to download on Fridays??
Oh crud, now it's trying to download ANOTHER online-only folder that didn't give me trouble before! :(
EDIT: I first set up this Dropbox on this new computer on October 30, which was the first time I experienced this issue, as I mentioned at the start of this thread. I just checked. October 30 was a Friday.
So this issue has recurred four times so far, each time on a Friday. (It skipped November 6.)
UGH it's trying to download TWO online-only folders now! I'm going to have to pause it just to get it to stop. :(
But there's definitely some sort of schedule going on, that tries to make my online-only files local. Oct. 30, Nov. 13, Nov. 20, Nov. 27. Fridays!
Fascinating. I stumbled on this because I am also running into this issue.
This issue is hyper-annoying and this issue melts away a lot of the value that I get from using dropbox.
It persistently downloads things that I keep setting back to online-only.
I can't say I've paid enough attention to detect whether or not Fridays are a contributing pattern on my end, but it is particularly obnoxious today.
It does seem to want to gravitate toward audio files as the files it tries to download even though I want them set to online only.
I've been experiencing this trouble on both my Mac OSX machine and my Windows 10 machine.
It's possible there are different reasons I experience it on one OS versus the other, that is not ruled out.
I will keep monitoring for clues, and I'll update you if I make any headwind on solving this issue.
Anybody who works at Dropbox have any ideas for us?
I'm suspicious that something on my system is periodically "indexing" in a way that tries to open up files that in turn causes smart sync to begin downloading. Any ideas on how to troubleshoot finding a process that is doing that behavior?
Good luck!
- Sanchez
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey guys, I’m sorry to hear that you’re experiencing this.
Rachel L., like Rich said, this is most likely caused by another app/process that’s accessing files in your Dropbox folder in some way. The fact that this happens consistently on the same day of the week, Friday, leads me to think that maybe there is some scheduled task running then. Is there a backup or other utility doing something on Fridays?
thebobalos, thanks for posting. As you mentioned a tendency for this to occur with audio files, I would check for any app that may be accessing/indexing them in the background. Do keep monitoring for clues, and let me know how it goes.
Cheers!
It's Friday again and guess what! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Yep, Dropbox started (and succeeded, with at least one) trying to download the zipped files. I've temporarily paused it to try to avert the issue for now. There's definitely something weird about Fridays.
Sanchez , I don't have any tasks scheduled that I'm aware of (this computer is new as of October 2020 and I've never set up any scheduled tasks), and the only "automatic" backup I have enabled is Dropbox itself. I've looked all over in the Dropbox settings but have no idea what could be causing this or why it targets the same files (though last time, it started trying to download a folder it's never tried before, so maybe if I let it keep at this it'd start trying to download everything?). I don't even know if Windows indexing could be to blame, since two of the folders it occasionally tries to download are both online only AND I've set Windows to not index them. :/ (The zipped files are an exception since they're not in a folder so I can't exempt them from indexing.)
My antivirus runs scheduled scans on Fridays, BUT, it does that at 10PM--not now--plus it was set to scan on SATURDAYS until a couple of weeks ago; only after this issue began did I reset it (for unrelated reasons). So that can't be the cause.
EDIT, incidentally, earlier in the day I was looking at the placeholders for a few files in one of the online-only folders Dropbox often tries to download (it didn't get to today before I paused it); I didn't download anything though I did try searching for a file (didn't work, since Windows hasn't indexed them). I also saved a few new files into that folder, and made them online only. Dropbox did nothing weird at the time.
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