Files automatically shifting to cloud only

Hi DrAJP, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

What device are you using currently, and what version of the OS and Dropbox desktop application is running?

Have you marked the files as available offline, or online-only, when right clicking them?

This will help me to assist further!

Thanks for the reply! 

Everything is always 100% up to date on my computer. I work from my 16-inch MacBookPro with the M1 Max Chip—version 13.2.1. I have the DropBox App-version 169.4.5684. 

95% or so of my files have been on "available offline." (I need quick access to them.) As reported in the initial message, shortly after the latest DropBox update that moves where/how files are stored on the local drive, most of my files went into an "online only" mode automatically. I changed these to "available offline" (as they were before), only to have many of them automatically switch to "online only" again. 

My hard drive currently has 750 GB available and a capacity of 995 GB. Prior to these DropBox changes/glitches, I had roughly 820 GB available. DropBox seems to have duplicated some of these files someway, but I cannot find them, do not have access to them, and they do not come up in any kind of search of the computer. Additionally, DropBox files no longer show up under the first set of displays within the "manage storage" options. I have run CleanMyMac several times, that does not fix anything, including the clear purgeable space settings. 

Thank you for your help. 

Another issue is that the file search functions no longer work/no longer open files. This update is proving to be very annoying and disruptive to my work. I have thousands of documents, articles, reports that I work with and use the search function all the time. I've been a DropBox customer for a decade but will have to move on if functionality doesn't return to what it was. DropBox has been so good for so long.  

Hey DrAJP, what you're describing does sound like expected after the update of the Dropbox app to the new Dropbox for macOS version.

You can read more about that here.

As for the search function are you referring to Spotlight?

If so, can you follow these steps, to see if they help?

• Open the Dropbox folder in Finder, wait a little while, then retry the Spotlight search.
• Since the Dropbox folder was moved to a new location with the new macOS update, it needs to be re-indexed. Opening the folder can prompt this.
• Another reason is that the entire disk might need to be reindexed.
  • Note: The help article mentions the Documents folder, but you need to use the Dropbox folder instead.
  • Also note: In some cases the entire hard disk may need to be re-indexed.

Thanks, I'm aware of all that. It's not working the way it should. And it worked far, far better before. Dropbox needs to revert to the way it was or I'll be taking my business elsewhere. It needs to be easy to find and use files. 

Would be great to get real followup and acknowledgment that the latest update to the Dropbox software needs to be reversed or greatly modified. 

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, I haven't been able to find anything.

As far as I understand it, I have Dropbox on my Win 11 PC set up to make everything available offline, as per this screenshot:

However, most documents do not appear to be available offline. Some folders have the green tick icon, but most folders have the grey cloud icon. Here's a sample:

I selected everything, right-clicked, Dropbox, Make available offline and then Dropbox appears to start making things available offline. But then after a few hours it stops again, and maybe one or two more folders are available offline. I've repeated this process four times and still most are not available offline.

I've shut down Dropbox and restarted it. I've rebooted the PC. Dropbox is telling me that I've set it so that everything should be available offline, but it's not doing that.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it a known issue? Is it being worked on?

Thanks very much in advance!

Tim.

Hi TimUnleashed, let's jump right into this! 

Can you clarify which version of the Dropbox app you're using, along with its syncing status? 

You should be able to locate both, by hovering your mouse over the little Dropbox icon, next to your WiFi on your task bar. 

Do you recall when this behavior started happening maybe?

Keep me posted!

Hey Megan,

Thanks!

Sure, the version is v185.4.6054 and the status is Up to Date.

This is a new PC so it's only been happening for a few days, since I installed.

I'm thinking that perhaps it might be constructive to uninstall Dropbox, delete all the files, then reinstall Dropbox and see if I end up with the same issue again. What do you think?

Hey TimUnleashed, thanks for letting me know.

It's interesting, because it's usually the other way around, and not folders/files becoming online-only. 

One more thing to check: if you open and check the folders that turn from available offline, to online-only what is the state of the files in them? How are they syncing?