Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨‍💻? Find out how to check here.

Forum Discussion

newkis710's avatar
newkis710
New member | Level 2
7 years ago
Solved

Binary files instad of folders

Hi everybody I have a problem that onw of shared folders in dropbox became binary file when I`m sync it with my local storage. From MAC OS or Windows it`s possible to open that file, it works like...
Linux
sync
  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    6 years ago

    Yes, if you'd like to completely disable the Smart Sync option, you'll have to turn the system extensions off.  

     

    Let me know if that does the trick, zacanger!

Lusil's avatar
Lusil
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
6 years ago

Thanks for keeping me in the loop, zacanger, and glad to hear that you were able to resolve your initial concern.

 

As for the files, you are right, when you sync a folder back from your selective sync settings and you have Smart Sync, it'll sync as online-only by default. 

 

However, could you check if Smart Sync is indeed turned off for your account by going to your Dropbox system extension under your General tab online? 

 

Let me know what you find, thanks! 

zacanger's avatar
zacanger
Helpful | Level 6
6 years ago

Thanks Lusil. The system extention option is on, smart sync option is off. Do I need to have both of them off to fully disable this?

  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    6 years ago

    Yes, if you'd like to completely disable the Smart Sync option, you'll have to turn the system extensions off.  

     

    Let me know if that does the trick, zacanger!

  • zacanger's avatar
    zacanger
    Helpful | Level 6
    6 years ago

    Thanks, that did the trick! That seems like somewhat unexpected behavior IMHO, a notice on the preferences view on the app might help clarify that.

  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    6 years ago

    Glad to have helped, zacanger, and thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us. 

     

    If anything else comes up in the future, just give us another nudge. 

     

    In the meantime, I hope you have a lovely day ahead!

  • stu5's avatar
    stu5
    Explorer | Level 3
    3 years ago

    It seems like this is still a problem in 2023.
    After installing Dropbox in windows and later disabling the offline only mode, it seems all the files are actually executable only. This makes dropbox unusable for developers in windows using WSL. If this files are copies (e.g. cp ~/Dropbox/myfiles ~/myfiles ;  ~/myfiles/myscript.sh   ... all you get are binary files that do not contain your actual data. *sigh*

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice 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!