How can I completely disable Smart Sync?

OK - this is great - BUT WHEN WILL ALL THESE Smart-sync files start downloading back as "LOCAL".

I made the change and don't see thousands of potiential files comming down.

Guess it makes too much for DB to have allowed each user to decide if they wanted the "feature" As you said I didn't want it either - I control it with Selective sync myself!

 this change OK now after I made this change - 3 of my 4 PCs now are  "Waiting to be linked to an account"

All worked fine before I made the "turn off smart sync"!!!!!!!!!

Any help out there - wish there was aphone number for us PRO members! 

Hey JB M.2,

If you haven't already, can you restart your computers to refresh the app and your File Explorer to see if that resolves the issue with the message you see there.

If not, are you able to see the option to "Sign in" when you click on the Dropbox icon in your system tray? If you still see the "Waiting to be linked to an account" message on your desktop app, can you check your Security page here and let me know if the computers are still showing as linked.

Let me know what you find - Thanks!

Thank you Yes I booted and entered my sigin & psw - now thousands of files are indexing & uploading - not sure WHY there are so many uploading - expected thousands would be downloading. Going to gice it a couple of days and then do the signin on the 3rd PC and see what happens.

Enhancement - just more work & frustration for users.

Could have been bypassed with just some communication with users asking if we wanted this option! I do a lot of work ooff-line so I need the local copies that I CONTROLLED.

TOO BAD THEY THINK THEY KNOW MORE THAN A USER,

Hey JB M.2,

I'm glad to hear that it's sorted out for you now!

If you have any other questions about this then please feel free to drop us a message here. :grin:

Cheers!

Thanks Ashley! I found this in the settings and if you click on the info icon next to it, it does tell you that this is what it does.

But you're right, its extremely weird that A. it's so  hard to find / unintuitive and B. the Dropbox moderators either don't know or won't reveal this simple answer to that exact question from so many users.

You know, I get that tech companies sometimes find that features which used to be their core value proposition turn out, years later after massive growth, to be expensive &/or a pain point for them to manage.

But what I can't stand is when they try to game their loyal customers by deceiving us and pretending they're doing it "because we want to improve your experience". Try treating us with honesty and openess instead of elitist contempt. Who knows, you might be suprised.

The problem  is not really solved.

Dropbox was always easy to use, fast and reliable. Recently became a shame and its price rised up too.

Why with OneDrive you can ACTUALLY DISABLE the "smart sync" on the client so it can function like the "old" OneDrive without the option on (no option in the right click menu, no problem at all, all the files you already set to syncing are really full downloaded), but Dropbox even if you turn it off and set the new files to "local" it won't change anything, the option with the right click persist and it mess up randomly with the "local" / "cloud only"? In particular there are some files that it just won't set to local. You click on it and it ignore the command.

If I add the fact that you raised the price and the space forcing users to have it and not adding another separate plan option, I'm wondering why I still have to be a paying customer...

To have problems? I'm already paying other cloud services to have those same problems already resolved months ago...

Hey there Baboo85,

From what I understand, you're having some trouble with setting files in your Dropbox folder to be local, right? 

So if you've changed the setting within the app preferences to sync new files as local, this will only apply to new files that sync to your account. As you mentioned, any files that are currently "online only" within the Dropbox folder will need to be changed by selecting them, right clicking and choosing "Smart sync - local" from the menu.

Is this the action that you're referring to that seems to be "ignored"? 

Let me know and I'll be more than happy to help troubleshoot with you - thanks!

A solution worked - to right-click on the top folder, smart sync - local.

Hi:

I'm using a Windows 10 PC and finall found that going to my dropbox.com/account - then clicking my initials - general - then turning off Dropbox system extension "disables features like Smart Sync"

I NEVER NEVER want Smart Sync activated. I control what files are on what PC with "Selective Sync".  

I agree: Dropbox deteriorates with time. It was perfect in the early days, now they messed up the web interface so it became unusable. I moved to Google Drive which also is deteriorating just a bit slower with years. 

That's a shame. Good products are messed up by those who inherited them. 

Glad to see that I'm not alone in this Dropbox disappointment. What ever happened to this great product? Keep it simple, guys! 

I have this problem on Mac osx High Sierra Now Smart Sync is always on, even though it is turned off in the defaults, it's really time consuming as I have to manually go through and right click and set to local for every single folder I want to sync, before I had to computers, all synced up manually without thinking about it.. why doesn't this basic function work?

Also I have notifciations turned off but after turning on local every file is being notified, also very annoying.

Hi there iamyila, thanks for joining the discussion!

Do you possibly not want to use smart sync at all on your files (at least for the moment)? If that's the case, then I can suggest disabling the system extension to disable Smart sync on your account.

Before doing so, I'd recommend ensuring that all files are local by right clicking the Dropbox folder from your file browser and setting the "Smart sync - local" option for all files. 

Regarding the notifications you mentioned, would you mind sending a screenshot of this so I can have a better understanding of exactly what you're seeing there?

Let me know if this helps at all!

The system was working find and then Dropbox kept asking me to use smart sync.  Now I am sync for days and totally confused.  Bye bye dropbox.  Don't fix something that is not broken!

The bottom line is that Smart Sync is a pile of dung!

Disk space is rarely a problem these days, so why worry about defaulting everything to get it off the local machine.

This garbage has cost me HOURS and all I wanted was what I had before!

Very poor show.

I've only ever wanted Dropbox to act as a mirror on my local machine - so what I'm working on locally is automatically also online. A primary backup, and convenient way to access things while not at my main workstation. Great. 

But then they introduce 'smart sync' and even though I've never turned it on, never wanted to turn it on, there it is, offloading my files to unburden my local HDD. Great, now I have to fight to claw my files back when I need to do a mirror to other locations for backups. This is currently going to take 2+ days it tells me.

I guess in hindsight, don't rely on dropbox, and maybe just work outside of my dropbox folder, and make an additional mirror into it.

Here's the issue I am having with DropBox in general. They keep trying to solve problems I didn't know I had. I need these files to all be local. I started having files that would not open with Adobe. They need to be local, at least in my workspace, to open without issue.

Even through I had the sync nonsense turned off after a bunch of flack trying to get me to use it. Well.... the new stuff doesn't go local. You have to right click or do other funny business. Dropbox used to just store my files. This is so frustrating and dissapointing.

omg yes. exactly.

All these companies come out offering a great product and an original idea, but then they get a taste of success and start this unquenchable thirst for 'growth' and then invent stupid ideas on how to promote 'new features' that we dont need.

Stop. Please. If you cant provide a solid, robust, simple product, dont attempt more.

I was doing fine with Selective Sync: I was running out of space and it was just what I needed. Then a while ago I noticed that folders which I had chosen for syncing were not actually syncing. One of the main apps I use would crash every time I tried to open a file which was apparently there (the app could see it) but in fact was only in the cloud. This happened even if I was connected to the internet. And, when I wasn't connected to the internet, I would sometimes find that a file which I thought was available offline wasn't. Perhaps I'm a bit slow on the uptake, but it has taken me WEEKS to work out what is going on. I never asked for Smart Sync, and when I heard about it I didn't want it. I now learn that Dropbox not only gave it to me anyway, but even made it as hard as possible for me to disable it. I don't think I'll be renewing my subscription next year.

Its nice to know i am not alone in repeatedly reporting that i dont want this. It has messed up my work and i have spent days trying to rectify it. I have switched off the extention so it keeps logging my pc out. I think we are approuching time to accept dropbox is no longer a reliable service. They need to either abandon smart sync or we need to find a replacement. 

Yaye, the only honest useful response. :-)
Thanks! It's really tiring and sad how the tech companies first incentivize and then increasingly bully the users into adopting all those features that drive them ever deeper into a taxed dependency on the companies and their technology. 

This is the kind of nonsense I run into constantly with Ableton if the project i'm working on is in a Dropbox-managed folder. This is makes saving Ableton projects in Dropbox almost impossible. seems to be something to do with smartsync offlining files.

This is a track I just started trying to record on, I haven't even set up a file or anything. This is an internal error because Ableton can't access the file on the dropbox filesystem... I love Dropbox, but I'm seriously going to have to stop using it because of this. 

PLEASE ALLOW ME TO DISABLE SMARTSYNC ENTIRELY. 

If I save the same project outside of my Dropbox managed folder structure, it works fine.

Could not agree more with the above. Selective sync was working perfectly and I thought everything was fine and dandy until I tried to open a file that should be local, but wasn't anymore.

I am sure Smart Sync works fine for some users, but for me it is extremely annoying and can be disastrous when I'm offline. I feel I have lost control of my own files and don't know anymore which are online, which are local and which are both. Will have to look for other services. I guess Dropbox doesn't want my money anymore.