Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨💻? Find out how to check here.
Forum Discussion
I'm unable to rename a file after copying it from another sub-folder on my Mac.
Having this issue over the past several months. Saw another thread where others were having the same issue, but that thread was locked. I copy a file from one subfolder in Dropbox to another subfolder on my Sonoma 14.5 Mac, (Dropbox v199.4.6287) and then I can't rename the file. This doesn't happen every time, but has happened a couple of times in the last 4 months since Jan 2024, and may have started happening before that.
Other files in the same folder have the Dropbox Quick Actions context menu items when I right click on them. This file does not. I can open the file, change contents, and save, and that works. I can copy the file with a ctrl-c / cntrl-v in the same folder, and then the copy of the file appears to inherit the same problem, I can't rename it either. I can delete the file. A menu item "Do not sync" is not available in the right click menu for this specific file, although not in the Dropbox Quick Actions section of the right click menu.
If I quit the Dropbox app, still can't rename the file, start Dropbox back up, still can't rename the file. Force quitting the Finder, which then automatically restarts, all the finder windows ... does work! So letting others know this is a workaround for this problem rather than rebooting the whole computer, which also works. But this does appear to be a bug around something with file copying in Dropbox folders, unless it's a Mac OS level bug. I noticed after restarting the Finder that the little green circle with the check-box next to the filename is back, which wasn't showing before, so there was something going on with Dropbox integration with the finder perhaps.
40 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
more the other way round - the files that exhibit this behaviour show "waiting to upload" in the finder. But Dropbox reports that they have uploaded.
I can't check by signing out and back in again now as it's magically resolved itself at some point in the last half hour, I'll try that next time and report back.
- Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
So, it's just those files that are "waiting to upload" that are showing this behavior, Ben?
Can you sign out of your account and then back in via the app's preference and let me know if this persists?
v217.4.4417
screenshot of syncing icons already included above, unless I've misunderstood?
- Walter
Thanks for the additional information and the screenshots too Ben P.1 - most appreciated.
Can you clarify the version and status of the Dropbox desktop app as shown in your menu bar at the moment?
Also, have you tried a different network since you noticed this today?
Could you maybe send us a screenshot of how the files that exhibit this behavior look on your end to check their syncing icons?
Belatedly...
Here's the context menu for a file that cannot be renamed:
No Rename option, and no Dropbox actions. For this file, there is a dotted cloud icon "waiting to upload":
Dropbox is running on my machine, the Dropbox drop-down menu says "Your files are up to date", and this file is listed as having been uploaded.
Meanwhile for other files in my dropbox, the rename option is available in the context menu, but the Dropbox actions are not:
If I choose "View Sync Issues" from the context drop-down Dropbox menu (right-clicking on the Dropbox icon in the menu bar), it tells me everything is fine:
If I Pause Syncing then Resume, no change.
If I quit Dropbox completely then restart Dropbox, no change.
These screenshots are all from right now today. In my original post above I said
"Don't know what triggers it, something to do with frequent connecting/disconnecting to different networks "confuses" the OS is my hunch. I frequently change networks several times a day due to the nature of my work, often switching to tethering, often offline completely."
but that isn't the case today, I've been on the same network and online all day afaik.
I'm having the same issue, Walter. Pausing sync'ing did not change anything, but I noticed that I can rename OTHER files in that folder that have already been sync'd. Therefore, it does appear to be a sync issue. It appears that while other files are sync'ing (ahead of it in the queue), the file cannot be renamed.
Thanks for the quick response :)
The result is the same in both cases.
Edit: Interestingly it starts to work correctly after restarting the dropbox app!- Walter
Hi there bitmonkey79 - thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Could you let us know if you get the same results when pausing the syncing process in the Dropbox desktop app and/or quitting it completely?
I have the same problem. I create a PDF somewhere local on my machine. Then I copy it into a synced folder.
There the rename option is simply gone. Also hitting "Return" does not switch to rename mode. Annoying.I am also on macOS Sonoma 14.7.1
Dropbox for Mac: v214.4.5217
One way to workaround this, is to zip and unzip that file. Then I can rename it again.
