Forum Discussion

Adam G.18's avatar
Adam G.18
Helpful | Level 6
4 years ago

Copying Folders from Dropbox to External Hard Drive when they're online only.

I have only just discovered a DISASTROUS aspect of Dropbox which is not properly documented .. and I am a years long Dropbox user and pay a subscription yearly for 2 Terrabytes.  I was even featured ...
desktop
Organize
sync
Megan's avatar
Megan
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
4 years ago

Hey Adam G.18, thanks for posting here today!

 

I can definitely see where you're coming from, and I appreciate that you took the time to share your thoughts and needs with us today. 

 

When a file or folder is online-only, essentially what you have synced in your Dropbox folder is a placeholder of said file. Therefore what you're copying over to your external hard drive, is the info and placeholders of the files. 

 

As you mentioned, you'd need to change the file, in order for the content to sync locally, then move it to an external hard drive.

 

Your comments on our plans, and how copying online-only files works have been quite helpful, and I will do everything I can to ensure that your voice is heard. We strive to make Dropbox a safe place for our users, hear what they need and I'll let our team know about your concerns. 

 

If you have anything you might want to add to that, don't hesitate. 

  • CarissaESLT's avatar
    CarissaESLT
    Explorer | Level 3
    2 years ago

    Is there anyway this can be resloved? How can online only files me copied to an external harddrive?

About Delete, edit, and organize

Solve issues with deleting, editing, and organizing files and folders in your Dropbox account with support from the Dropbox Community.

The Dropbox Community team is active from Monday to Friday. We try to respond to you as soon as we can, usually within 2 hours.

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X, Facebook or Instagram.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!