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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...
Looking all over in my computer for anything that's scheduled, even though I never scheduled any sort of processes myself. The fact that Windows started sending me all those notifications even when Dropbox was paused makes me suspect Windows is the culprit though I have NO idea what could be causing it.
Nothing set up in the notifications area of Windows settings.
I finally found something called Task Scheduler by using search. It doesn't show anything that ran today or even in the past week:
Task status
Status of tasks that have started in the following time period: Last 7 days
Summary: 0 total--0 running, 0 succeeded, 0 stopped, 0 failed
So I looked in the listing of active tasks. There are a lot and it doesn't give specific dates/times for when most should run, but I did find one that stood out:
Task name: WarrantyChecker_DeviceScan
Next run time: 12/18/2020 4:55:08 PM
Triggers: At 4:55 PM every Friday of every week, starting 11/6/2020
Location: \Hewlett-Packard\HP Support Assistant
Hm.
Here's the thing--the time is off, plus, November 6 was the one Friday I don't recall anything happening. :/ Plus I had this issue for the Friday preceding 11/6 (10/30).
So...I don't know, and I don't know why HP Support Assistant (much less something called "WarrantyChecker"?) would have anything to do with Dropbox Smart Sync. But that's all I've been able to find.
Anyway, I'm turning Dropbox back on and hoping nothing else weird happens...
Experiencing this yet again after downloading some more files and then setting them to online only, I think I might...MIGHT...have figured out what's causing it: File Explorer's "recent files" list.
Every time I opened a new instance of File Explorer and went to the Quick Access, where recently used/opened files show up--in this case, the recently downloaded files--they started trying to download and open. When I navigated away from here and turned them online only again, the behavior stopped. Did it again when I again navigated to the recently used items, stopped again when I navigated away. Quick Access and recent files are what show up by default when I open File Manager, so that would explain why opening up File Manager seemed to cause the problem.
I opened up a bunch of local files and closed them again to "wipe off" the online-only files from the recent files list, and navigated back to it. Nothing tried downloading.
Granted...this doesn't explain my earlier experiences where Dropbox would just of its own volition start randomly trying to download stuff at particular times of particular days. So, I don't know that this is the ONLY answer, just that it might be the answer for the most RECENT behavior. But I'm not entirely positive. Rather scared to keep poking around to find out. (I just want my files to behave.)
Googling old threads with similar subjects suggests recent file lists can cause problems with Dropbox wanting to download online-only stuff, even when you have your preview screen turned off and are not opening, indexing, or virus-scanning the files (I tried all of that long ago). I don't remember recent file lists being suggested as a solution to my problem, though. 😕 Maybe I missed it.
Well...so much for that theory. Held up for about a day. Now today while downloading some new e-book files and one music album, Dropbox started trying to download and open a random music file which is nowhere in the recent files list. (I had to search my online-only files to see what it was even trying to download. Can't even be sure whether it succeeded or not.)
EDIT, and now that I've resumed trying to upload the e-books in question, the Dropbox status says it's still downloading random music files as well. None of them in the recent files.
Really, really wish this would be fixed, whatever it is. Sigh.
oh wow... I commend you! Have you actually found an answer (at least one) to our problem?!!! Whoopee! I fully understand what you're saying about Quick Access bar and it showing recently accessed folders / docs.
But I don't understand your method of "wiping off" your recently used files from the Quick Access toolbar. How do you do that? I hope you see this question.
But I also hope someone official from Dropbox is reading all this and they can work on something to prevent this from happening. The Quick Access / recent files bar is actually useful.
oh shucks. I had just got excited reading your previous thread / (discovery) about the Quick Access / Recent files bar. So it doesn't work huh. Yeah, that's been my experience with this problem over the years. It seems to be totally random files. eg, as you said, a music or video file from some random personal Dropbox folder starting to download, when I'm in a totally different work folder
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