Some of my files show up as zero bytes

I've looked at version history and I can see that a file has 900 bytes via the dropbox browser but 0 bytes on my desktop.

Hi idontgetoutmuch, I hope you’re doing well! 

Can you let me know if you see any syncing icon next to this file on your desktop app, and what that icon is (green checkmark/cloud icon etc)? 

Also, what OS are you using and what’s the current syncing status of your Dropbox app?

It has a cloud icon. Another file in the same folder has a green check mark. I am on macOS 12.4. The app reports all my files are up to date.

Hey idontgetoutmuch, thanks for the info! 

If you right click on said file, do you see the option to make available offline by any chance? 

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Nancy wrote:

Hi idontgetoutmuch, I hope you’re doing well! 

 

Can you let me know if you see any syncing icon next to this file on your desktop app, and what that icon is (green checkmark/cloud icon etc)? 

 

Also, what OS are you using and what’s the current syncing status of your Dropbox app?

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I have a green checkmark. I am on macOS 12.4. Dropbox says my files are up to date.

Dropbox on the web says the file is 500 kb - the dropbox app says it's 0 kb.

Ok so I have to right click and then select make available offline. I never used to have to do this 😞

So having to click on thousands of files to synchronise them really makes dropbox unusable.

I've been having this problem for a long time. I figured Dropbox had screwed something up, as lots of very old files were showing as zero bytes; some PSDs, some text files, lots of files (but crucially, not all of them). My theory was that, at some point, Dropbox decided to sync the zero-byte placeholder file back over the actual file. However, I've just searched for a text file in my Dropbox, and the search metadata finds the text, even though the file's content (on the web, and on my Mac), is empty, zero bytes. The file's history only shows it being created, at 2.04kb, but when I restore or download that version, the file is empty. Is there a way to fix this? Where has my data gone?

Hi antoniojl, have you tried marking those files and folders as available offline, in order for the file to be local on your machine?

Yes, I tried this, but the files still appear as empty. In fact, they have the file _size_ of the full file according to Dropbox web (i.e. 2kb in the one case I mentioned), but upon being opened by a hex editor, the contents are zeroed out entirely, e.g.:

0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
...
0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 

This is also true of the files in other formats (e.g. PSDs). This definitely seems like it occurred in an incident; not all my files are affected, and it's only ones of a certain age (rather old/infrequently accessed). Does Dropbox even still have my data (as per the web search being able to show a preview of the empty text files), or is it actually lost?