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39 files stuck syncing for weeks
Using the Mac version 88.4.172 of the Dropbox app on my 2015 MacBook Pro (with the latest Catalina macOS 10.15.2). Dropbox has been stuck for several weeks on 39 files syncing. I use Smart Sync for a number of folders.
These are the steps I’ve taken to try to fix this issue:
- Quit Dropbox and restarted.
- Restarted the MacBook Pro.
- Killed all Dropbox processes using Activity Monitor (force quit them). Then restarted the MacBook Pro, and restarted the Dropbox app.
- Deleted and reinstalled the Dropbox app in the normal manner.
- Deleted and reinstalled the Dropbox app using the Advance Reinstall directions at: https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/advanced-reinstall
- Checked for “bad files” — per Dropbox instructions — and got stuck using this link: https://www.dropbox.com/bad_files_check, which froze up on the Safari, Firefox and Opera browsers. This link is discussed in numerous discussions and seems to be something Dropbox has been “working on” fixing for more than a year.
- Removed all aliases in the Dropbox folder and subfolders.
- Checked for and removed all symlinks in the Dropbox folder and subfolders.
- Checked for circular arrow “syncing” symbol in the Dropbox folder and subfolders; found none. All files and folders have the green checkmark symbol.
- Looked for hidden files that might be causing issues, found none other than normal Mac “.DS_Store” files — in most folders — plus three Dropbox hidden files: “.dropbox”, “.dropbox. cache”, and “Icon?”, in the Dropbox main folder.
What else can I do?
Let's reset the configuration settings of the Dropbox desktop app.
Unlink and relink. The system will take some time to re-index your files and sync them all.
If the number of files remains stuck after this, I will create a ticket to check a few more things with you and provide the next steps.
Thank you for your patience yotimbo
37 Replies
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- ?? You mean you can’t identify which ones won’t sync?
The files will have a Red Cross next to them, rather than the usual tick. Struggling to find them to be honest
- Sorry. They will have a Red Cross OR a blue syncing icon. How many files do you have?
You should be able to start at the root of the drop box folder and just start looking around.
Here’s what I did.
https://tidbits.com/2017/10/25/how-to-clear-a-dropbox-file-that-wont-sync/ This solved it, thanks!
I'd say if you have thousands stuck, then it's a file permissions issue that needs to be solved outside of DropBox. Eg bulk change the file permissions of those files to read-write. Also try to move them all out of Dropbox and see what happens to your sync.
Do I understand your problem to be that trying to synce Word and PPT (and I suppose other Office files) is incompatible with Dropbox? My first sync was all jpg photos. I observed that none of the work folders have synced any documents. Also observe that when I delete these folders on the second machine, they all instantly reappear like dragon's teeth. Dropbox is useless.
