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Karl H.4's avatar
Karl H.4
Collaborator | Level 8
6 years ago
Solved

Files stuck "downloading", PC not syncing, CPU overloading!

A couple of days ago I noticed that my Dropbox sync was "downloading 11 files" for a long time. I could not figure out which files (because there's apparently no direct way to do so) but I went looki...
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  • Karl H.4's avatar
    Karl H.4
    6 years ago
    In case someone in the future is having this problem: the Dropbox team helped me pinpoint the cause. Yahoo Groups recently offered to send a zip file of files from Groups that they were closing down, and I had unzipped this on my PC. However, these files had names ending with spaces, and once those get onto your system, Windows can't delete/move/rename them. Once I deleted them with a shell command, Dropbox stopped trying to sync them.
Daphne's avatar
Daphne
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
6 years ago

Hey Karl H.4, I hope you're well today!

It seems that the app is trying to sync the files due to the high CPU usage, but is unable to process this. Can you try the following to see if this does the trick:

  1. Click the Dropbox icon in your system tray.
  2. Click the profile pic/initials icon in the top right of the window.
  3. Choose "Preferences..."
  4. Go to the "Account" tab.
  5. While holding the Space bar key, click "Fix Permissions".

If this doesn't resolve the issue, please follow the steps again and instead click "Fix Hardlinks". 

You'll get a little prompt when the action has been completed, and the app might need a short time just to apply the change and continue syncing so please allow a short period of time to see if there is progress in the sync status.

Let me know how it goes!

rpbergman's avatar
rpbergman
New member | Level 2
6 years ago

I have the same problem, but your solution does not help.

 

When I go to the Account Tab, there is no "Fix Permissions" or "Fix Hardlinks" button to click at all.  Only and option to unlink the Dropbox from my computer.

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