I keep seeing conflicted copies for my audio files, after using a third-party software.

Hi grantcrenshaw, could you clarify exactly what happens, step-by-step, during this process and when the conflict is created on your machine?

Hi JoelBille and Jay

I have run into the same issue, I am running a very similar setup on Mac. The "conflicted copy" issue has started to occur consistently. It is not a big issue that destroys my workflow, it is just annoying more than anything else. I was wondering if either of you had found a solution to this issue that I could try. 

Additionally, this only occurs when I export WAV files from Logic Pro, not mp3s. I thought this information could be helpful.

Just let me know if you have found solutions, thanks!

Hi JoelBille, I've merged your post to that thread to keep related topics together. 

in order to look into this matter in more detail, I'd recommend contacting the support team directly for them to investigate further.

I started discussing the topic in a different thread but since the dropbox team stopped answering there without providing any answers, I'm giving it a new attempt.

Since a few months back now, starting this summer, I'm getting "Confliced Copies" when exporting audio files from my software Logic Pro straight into a Dropbox folder. I've been doing that for years and years without any problem. It seems to have started with Dropbox latest update.

I can see the dropbox sync icon on the file as it appears in the finder folder, even though the file is still being written. The export process can take a couple of minutes. And when that is done, and after a few additional minutes, the original exported file is broken (cut too short, not containing the full audio file) and there's an extra file added with the file name extension "(Conflicted Copy for [Username] [Date])". Usually that file is complete, but not always.

I'm not using Dropbox on multiple places simultaneously, it's technically impossible to write these files at the same time from multiple locations even if I tried to.

Pausing syncing solves the problem, but takes away the point of using dropbox in the first place.

I've not updated any other software around the time this started.

I'm about to quit dropbox completely and move to some other service, because right now I have to disable syncing to avoid dropbox corrupting my files.

So this is my last attempt att solving this. Any ideas?

On a macbook pro with Ventura 13.7.1

My theory, which seems more and more likely, is that Dropbox starts uploading the file while it's still being written, which I consider a straight up bug. I'll probably have to leave dropbox if this is not fixed asap, I've had to disable syncing in order to work so i'ts pretty much useless right now.

Any more ideas? If not, I'll probably have to stop using dropbox. It's been great for years, but this issue makes it pretty much unusable for me.

Can you specify what you want a screen shot of? Here's what the folder looks like after the conflicted copy has appeared. The text is smeared due to information under NDA. Notice the difference in file sizes, and time difference for one of them.

The main problem is not that the extra file is added, but that the original file is somehow broken by Dropbox. If i preview it before Dropbox has synked, it workes as expected. Then after a while, when the conflicted copy has appeared, the original file is not complete, as in the sound file being cut before the end, and also generally has a smaller file size.

Hey JoelBille, would you mind sending along a couple of screenshots, in order for us to have a visual too? 

Nope, it's still happening. Seems to be more prone to happen for larger files, probably because of the longer export time. Really annoying thing, strange that there seems to be no solutions out there.

Hi! I'm exporting the files using Logic Pro,  a software for working with audio. I hit "export" in Logic Pro, choosing a subfolder in my Dropbox on my mac as destination. The process can take a couple of minutes, depending on the complexity of the matieral. This has worked fine for years, until the last couple of weeks/months.

The version history for the file marked "conflicted copy" is:

12.03: File Added by me (Export started)
12.03: File Edited by me (Export still going)

12.03: File Edited by me (Again, export still going)
12.04: File (now with the "conflicted copy" tag added) Added by me.

I will try today with the new settings i mentioned above and see if it still happens. Since it's not 100% reproducable it will take some testing to see if it worked.