Forum Discussion

Rachel L.'s avatar
Rachel L.
Experienced | Level 12
6 years ago

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...
Download
Rachel L.'s avatar
Rachel L.
Experienced | Level 12
4 years ago

"As of January 17, 2022, the Dropbox desktop app will only support File Explorer and the taskbar on Windows and Finder and the menu bar on Macs."

 

Given this news, I sure hope my issue with Dropbox weirdly attempting (but failing) to download all my online-only files every time I open up Windows File Explorer while Dropbox is running has been resolved. Never opening File Explorer while Dropbox is running is the only way I've found to avoid this problem, and I seem to be the only user who has it. 😕

cmag1sp's avatar
cmag1sp
New member | Level 2
3 years ago

I have exactly the same issue as rachel. Dropbox suddenly says it is downloading 30,000 files. Then it tells me there is not enough space on my to sync. But I can't move any files out of Dropbox for the same reason. So this gums up two PC's. Last time this eventually cleared after a couple of weeks but it is intolerable. I shouldn't need a computing degree to use Dropbox I don't think,

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    3 years ago

    Hey cmag1sp, sorry to see you're having this issue.

     

    There are some processes on your computer that could be looking at and downloading these files without you manually opening them.

     

    This could be some kind of backup service you might have, an antivirus, recently used file lists or third party apps that monitor files in general.

     

    Could this be the case here? And can you temporarily disable these features (if any), to see if you get a different behavior?

  • cmag1sp's avatar
    cmag1sp
    New member | Level 2
    3 years ago

    I wouldn't know where to begin to look into your points. At a consumer level the program should work as expected without the need for high level intervention to sort out bugs. This appears to be quite a common issue.

About View, download, and export

Node avatar for View, download, and export
Need support with viewing, downloading, and exporting files and folders from your Dropbox account? Find help from the Dropbox Community.

The Dropbox Community team is active from Monday to Friday. We try to respond to you as soon as we can, usually within 2 hours.

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X, Facebook or Instagram.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!