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Benjo1216's avatar
Benjo1216
Explorer | Level 3
6 years ago
Solved

Time Period for Smart Sync

Hi,   Is there a way to adjust the time period for smart sync to 'unload' files back to online only?   we have some large projects and files that may not be touched for a few months and we ke...
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  • DV87's avatar
    DV87
    4 years ago

    there’s not a specific period of time over which the Dropbox app converts your files automatically to online-only.

    Thanks Nancy ... I'm honestly just not sure I believe this. The Dropbox app must have some method to determine that downloaded files and/or folders haven't been accessed for while... Maybe it's not a super-specific interval or "countdown" timer, but I was just hoping for a bit more detail on how this feature works. Thanks anyway!

DV87's avatar
DV87
Helpful | Level 6
4 years ago

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!

 

 

Hannah's avatar
Hannah
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
4 years ago

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?

  • DV87's avatar
    DV87
    Helpful | Level 6
    4 years ago

    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!

    • Nancy's avatar
      Nancy
      Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
      4 years ago

      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).

      • DV87's avatar
        DV87
        Helpful | Level 6
        4 years ago

        there’s not a specific period of time over which the Dropbox app converts your files automatically to online-only.

        Thanks Nancy ... I'm honestly just not sure I believe this. The Dropbox app must have some method to determine that downloaded files and/or folders haven't been accessed for while... Maybe it's not a super-specific interval or "countdown" timer, but I was just hoping for a bit more detail on how this feature works. Thanks anyway!

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