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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...
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Chris C's avatar
Chris C
Explorer | Level 4
5 years ago

Lets say I have a folder with 4 video files in it. I have versions 1-3 set to "Online only" via the smart sync dropdown menu in Mac OS. When I open v4 (which does reside on my hard drive) in quicktime to view it, one (or more) of the other versions in that folder begins to download. 

 

These are only a few hundred MB, but I do have folders containing gigabytes of information and if several of those files download it could cause a problem on my computer.

 

I do not have any antivirus software running and no I have one app connected (vimeo) that I don't think has any bearing on this issue. It seems directly related to opening a file in Quicktime.

Daphne's avatar
Daphne
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
5 years ago

Thanks for joining us here Chris C!

 

Can you just clarify, are you opening the file by navigating to the file in the Dropbox folder and opening it from there?

 

Or are you opening Quicktime and then opening the file through the app?

  • Chris83's avatar
    Chris83
    Explorer | Level 3
    5 years ago

    Hi Daphne – I'm double clicking the actual file in the finder.

    • Daphne's avatar
      Daphne
      Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
      5 years ago

      Do you have the same issue if you simply launch the Quicktime app?

       

      Sometimes, the recents lists for apps can trigger the download of Smart Synced files as they can request data from the file.

      • Chris83's avatar
        Chris83
        Explorer | Level 3
        5 years ago

        No, I just tested it and launching Quicktime does not trigger any downloads in dropbox.

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