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adamschoales's avatar
adamschoales
Helpful | Level 5
6 years ago

"Smart" sync keeps downloading Online Only Files

I am growing increasingly frustrated with this so called "smart sync" feature Dropbox has recently introduced (or rather forced upon me). I have a number of files I've brought over to Dropbox using...
desktop
Download
sync
Fiona's avatar
Fiona
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
6 years ago

Please add a screenshot showing the space the Dropbox files take up from your computer at the time. 

As for your syncing, I located a ticket you have with our support and took over to take a look at device specific details. You already have my response there adamschoales. 

Feel free to get back to this thread and post the explanation I provided you there. 

Thank you! 

adamschoales's avatar
adamschoales
Helpful | Level 5
6 years ago

As mentioned in my email:

You flagged that you saw that the default Smart Sync setting you have for this device is "Local". Not sure where you’re seeing the default sync is “local” because here’s a screenshot from the app on my end where it clearly says online only. If you’re seeing something saying it’s set to Local that is perhaps part of the issue - somewhere in the system Dropbox thinks that’s what I want even though on my end I’m telling it otherwise.
 
Also, as mentioned, third party apps are not accessing the files. I don’t have any anti-virus software running, and while I do have some backup apps, they all have the Dropbox folder excluded from the backup.
 
So really not sure what’s going on here. Like I mentioned, the only way to get things to work properly seems to use the old “Selective sync” method, which completely defeats the purpose of Smart Sync to begin with.
  • Fiona's avatar
    Fiona
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    6 years ago

    Thank you for updating the thread with additional information. 

    I would like us to continue responding to the email, if this is OK with you, so I can have all your responses there, in case I need to escalate. 

    You are of course welcome to post back here, when we get this resolved for you. 

    Thank you for your understanding and patience. 

    • busboys45's avatar
      busboys45
      Helpful | Level 5
      6 years ago

      I am having the exact same issue.  Almost every day I turn on my laptop to discover files I have sent online are now local again.  What is the solution?

      • onnovanvelzen's avatar
        onnovanvelzen
        Explorer | Level 4
        6 years ago

        sam happening to me. very annoying as i keep running out of space. 

        any solutions? 

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