Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨💻? Find out how to check here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
I keep getting selective sync conflicts by Dropbox?
I have a major issue with sync conflicts at the moment, which i'm trying to resolve. Although what I find happening is that files are being moved by drop box into my private folder.
I've tested...
Okay, I will try.
In using Selective Sync, (as an example) you selected Folder B and Folder D. Once you selected those folders in the Selective Sync Settings, Those folders will disappear off your Dropbox folder. It will be in the cloud only.
Let's say you had the same files that were in Folder B and D somewhere backed up (outside of Dropbox folder) and place them inside the Dropbox folder. It will create conflicted copies. That is because it's supposed to be 'off' your HD (off from your Dropbox folder)
Now, this is the way I understood from your Post. Its possible and not inconceivable that I may not have understood the situation.
But does this sound what happened?
This is still happening.
Steps:
- Create a folder, let's call it foo
- In foo, create a folder called "node_modules"
- Go to Dropbox client, Selective Sync settings, and uncheck node_modules
- Wait for sync
- Verify on Dropbox.com that "node_modules" exists and is empty. Verify on local machine that folder no longer exists and Dropbox is 100% up to date and done syncing.
- Create a folder called "node_modules".
Expected:
- Folder exists locally, but does not sync because of Selective Sync settings. Files in that folder also do not sync.
Observed:
- Dropbox forcibly renames folder to "node_modules (Selective Sync Conflict)" no matter how many times you try to name it "node_modules".
This behavior is completely blocking my flow. It is contrary to the way Dropbox has worked for years. It was always incredibly annoying to have to go through all these steps every time I make a new project to avoid needless syncing...but at least it worked. And now, suddenly, it doesn't.
Your suggestion to "rename the conflict folder" is vague. Rename the local folder? It must be "node_modules" and your software is preventing that. Rename the destination folder? Then Selective Sync won't know not to sync node_modules. Rename it to node_modules after the forced rename? Wish I could, but you, Dropbox, are preventing that.
If this isn't fixed, I'm done with Dropbox. It's been a nice decade, but you guys are obviously not interested in supporting your customers. It's one thing to not implement features like wildcard ignore that have been asked for for years, and another to break the one (terrible, but functional) workaround for your own application's shortcomings.
I agree - on DB has no interest to serve the customers. Last week I asked the support team whether they could add a function to lock the Dropbox while I am away from my desk, or even create a "personal vault" like OneDrive so that others cannot get to some of my sensitive information. The answer is "no" because this is local folders that DB is synching. To be honest, the Chinese app "Baidu Cloud" can lock the cloud when you are in active for certain amount of time, while keep synching/transfering files at the background. That is, others cannot see what you are doing with the app while you are way. OneDrive can also lock a portion of the folder and make it invisible to others. I don't know how DB cannot. The only answer I got is to ask me keep safe with the windows log in password...
About synching... every time I synch another machine which I didn't synch for a while, there will be "conflicted copies"... Can't DB just compare the files and decide which one is older and needs to be synched? Or maybe the two files are just the same? I don't understand. Something like total commander 15 years ago can already compare files and synch between folders - which means technically it is not impossible.
I am also more and more disappointed with dropbox.
- Rich
Super User II
karen007 wrote:
Can't DB just compare the files and decide which one is older and needs to be synched?
The newest file isn't necessarily the one that should be synced. What if I have a problem with a file and decide to roll it back to a previous version (using my own backups)? In such a case, the older file is the one that I want synced to all other devices. If Dropbox simply relied on "older files get replaced with newer files" then the version of my file that I want synced would be replaced with the bad version.
Now expand on that. A computer is infected with ransomware and many files are encrypted, each with new modification dates. There's an old comptuer that's been offline for a while and has a clean copy of the files, with older modification dates. You bring that comptuer online and Dropbox starts to sync. With your reasoning, Dropbox just overwrote your clean copy with the newer, encrypted copy of your files.
By creating conflicts, Dropbox leaves the decision making up to the user. Dropbox can't (and shouldn't) assume that it knows which files should be synced. Instead, it keeps both copies and allows us to determine which files to keep.
The problem is, whenever I have to synch, there are conflicted copies and I have to use windows' search function to find out - otherwise they are just there forever. If what you said is correct, maybe DB should, after synching, pop up a window and ask which file you want to keep. Or provide a toggle to let users decide whether they want to keep the newest version or rather leave a conflicted copy.
I have 3 different laptops (at work, at home, etc.) and these conflicted copies are everywhere.
Yes! Karen007 has it right. Stop "selective sync" conflict before it happens. If there is a conflict, stop! show the files and ask which one is the one to keep. Let the viewer choose to compare the two files otherwise if earlier/later does not resolve the issue. Just yesterday the Dropbox program created 479 copies of my Downloads folder each with a "selective sync conflict" label. If there is a conflict, to repeat, stop! and make the user resolve it before proceeding.
I ask myself, "If I don't even know what 'selective sync' is, how can it be my fault?"
