Time Period for Smart Sync

Hey Benjo1216, thanks for dropping by!

Although there isn't currently an option to set when a file or folder becomes local again, you can suggest it, here. 

There, like-minded users can comment and upvote your idea. 

I hope this helps, but let me know if you have any other questions in the meantime. 

Out of curiosity, how long is the default time period before Dropbox makes inactive files / folders online-only again?

Personally, I'd prefer if my Dropbox would never automatically offload files that I've specifically chosen to download. If I want to offload files / folders later, I'm more than happy to do it manually. Actually... Based on my Smart Sync preferences (screenshot below), it seems like files I've downloaded shouldn't be getting automatically offloaded... But they are. Can you shed any light on why this might be?

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DV87 wrote:

Personally, I'd prefer if my Dropbox would never automatically offload files that I've specifically chosen to download.

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Mark them as Available Offline and they'll never switch back to Online-only.

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Based on my Smart Sync preferences (screenshot below), it seems like files I've downloaded shouldn't be getting automatically offloaded... But they are. Can you shed any light on why this might be?

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Make sure you've marked those files at Available Offline. If they started out as Online-only files, then they'll remain as such (or in the temporary state if you open them) until you mark them as Available Offline.

Thanks so much for the reply! Can you be more specific about the procedure I should use to "mark" files as "Available Offline?" I always thought that's what I was doing by right-clicking my files in Finder and choosing "Make available offline" (see screenshot below) — but I noticed one folder in particular that got offloaded at some point within the last 3 weeks or so. Perhaps I'm doing it wrong? 🙂

Thanks again!

Hey DV87!

The process you're following is indeed correct.

Have you tried to quit the Dropbox app and then relaunch it, to see if that changes the behavior you're seeing?

Thanks. It's not a huge issue for me, but I'll give that a try.

Out of curiosity: If I were to turn on "Save hard drive space automatically" and mark a folder to be "available offline," exactly how long would that folder need to be inactive before Dropbox would automatically offload it, making it "online only" again?  I assume there's some sort of countdown timer that resets every time a file inside such a folder is accessed locally... Since that duration can't currently be customized, I'm just wondering how long it is.

Thanks again for your insight!

Hi DV87, I hope you don’t mind me jumping in, as well. 

From what I know, there’s not a specific period of time over which the Dropbox app converts your files automatically to online-only. In general, this can happen after a few months of inactivity (if you don’t access a specific file, for example).

Where do I find the "save hard drive space automatically" option? I've looked everywhere and I can't find it. I'm on a M1 Mac (macOS Monterey 12.1).

Pookeyblow, it may depend on your account type, but mine is found on the Sync tab within Dropbox Preferences.