Forum Discussion

Greatdane007's avatar
Greatdane007
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago

Files take forever to sync from one Mac computer to another

I often (attempt to) use dropbox to transfer files from my laptop to desktop computer. Some days this simple process takes far too long. I just placed a simple 500k file in my laptop dropbox. The fil...
desktop
Mac
sync
Hannah's avatar
Hannah
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago

Sorry to jump in here, Greatdane007.

 

Would you mind clarifying something for me?

 

You mentioned that you're adding files to your Dropbox, using the Dropbox app on your laptop and they appear on the website immediately, but then you can't find them in the Dropbox folder on the laptop nor the desktop, is that right?

 

I'm not clear on how the files do not show up in the Dropbox folder of the laptop, if that's where you're syncing them from.

 

Do they disappear from the folder after you add them?

Greatdane007's avatar
Greatdane007
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago

YES exactly as you described is correct. I just did a test by adding a new folder to my desktop dropbox folder. It instantly appeared on both computers in the dropbox folder. I then added two fairly large image files to the folder. Almost instantly both image files appeared on both systems.

 

Just like that....it is now working as it should. However, the other two small files I uploaded yesterday and today STILL do not appear in this folder!! Strange indeed.

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    That's quite odd indeed, Greatdane007. Can you try deleting the small files you uploaded yesterday to Dropbox, and then re-upload them? Can you see them properly on all Dropbox platforms now?

    • Greatdane007's avatar
      Greatdane007
      Explorer | Level 3
      2 years ago

      Hi Nancy, Thanks for the continued guidance. I deleted the two previous files. I uploaded files into both a folder within the dropbox folder as well as just my dropbox folder itself. I did this on both of my computers. It took 20 seconds or so to sync but now the files appear as they should on all platforms. Strange glitch in the matrix is all I can offer, as it seems to be working normally now.

      • Nancy's avatar
        Nancy
        Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
        2 years ago

        Glad to hear things are now back to normal! If you face similar issues again, I’ll be right here.

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!