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Can't switch to online only
I've got a file that's pretty big and I've put it up to dropbox with selective sync. The original version of the file is on an external hard drive. When I switched the dropbox folder to online only (...
Hey there ajbentley - sorry to hear about this; let's take a look now.
When using Selective Sync, and choosing to sync a folder you had previously excluded on the desktop client, you may notice the files appearing with a grey cloud icon beside them. This means that the files are ‘online-only’. You can see and interact with these files as normal, but they take up practically no space on your computer.
Through our Smart Sync feature you now have greater control and can sync only the folders or files you need by right clicking, choosing Smart Sync and then selecting 'Local'. This helps optimize your hard disk usage.
Once we have returned these 'online-only' files/folders through Selective Sync you can now see the files and folders and then proceed with re-downloading only the content you need and want.
If a file has been synced locally that you would prefer to have online-only, simply right click on it and select online-only from the Smart Sync menu.
Let me know how this goes Joshua.
Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHey there Roth, let's see what we can find.
Many processes on your machine look at files that you may not have manually opened and, in order to fulfill these requests, Dropbox syncs the files.
If there are apps that constantly do this (such as backup services, antivirus, and other third party apps that monitor files), your files may go back to local, just as you described.
For this reason, try temporarily quitting or disabling apps until you see that the issue is resolved. The last app that you closed when the issue no longer occurred may be the one performing this action.
Let me know how it goes!
I am having the exact same problem. I have tried multiple times to switch a file and folder from local to online only. And it will just switch back. I have tried removing the files from the drop box folder then reuploading them in folder already designated to be online only, and again the file is local. I'm almost completely out of space on my hard drive and have no idea what to do. I need help resolving this.
FYI - YOU APPARENTLY NEED TO "ENABLE" SMART SYNC IN PREFERENCES. NO IDEA WHY THEY WOULD SET IT UP THIS WAY, BUT NOW IT'S WORKING.
@galatea52 Thank you so much!! YOU solved the problem for me. I really appreciate you posting that. I never would have guessed it - why show the option and make it look like the user can act upon it when they can't? That UX needs an update.
@galatea52 been yelling at this for +1 hours THANK YOU.
I'm not even seeing Smart Sync in my preferences. I did try the "online only" option a few months ago, and created a folder, added a file to it as a test, set it to "online only" and it reverted to "local" almost immediately. Soon after, I couldn't see the "online only" option any longer, and still can't. I just had a look at my preferences as suggested above, and there's no sign of it.
EDIT: I was looking in my preferences online when I wrote the above; in my local file manager I can right-click and select "online only", so have tried a few folders and will check again tomorrow to see if they've reverted again this time round.
Martin
NZ
- Galatea57! My saviour!
But what a stupendous thing that you need to enable this option after installation while you already select To enable it during installation!
