I have my local installation on Monterrey stuck in Smart Sync, even though I disable Smart Sync prior to full uninstall on my M1 Air. Some folders are still being displayed with Cloud icon

How can I completely disable smart sync on MacOS Ventura? I've read other threads on this topic, but none of their answers seem to apply to MacOS Ventura. One article suggested disabling the feature in Preferences. However when I open my Dropbox app from the menu bar and go into Preferences, to the Sync tab, the described option to control smart sync is missing.The support article here does not apply to Ventura: https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/filesystem-integration#optoutIf I right-click my dropbox folder in Finder and click "Make available offline", at first it seems to make my dropbox folder available offline as desired. However, as soon as I add files to my dropbox from my other computer, the new files still default to "online only" and are not properly synced to my Macbook.This is a huge issue, as I rely on having a canonical copy of my dropbox available offline on my Macbook, automatically synced as long as my Dropbox menu bar app is online and running. I need a reliable way to ensure that all current and future dropbox files will always be available offline on my Mac. In other words, I need a way to disable smart sync entirely. Dropbox has worked great since I started using it in mid-2010, up until a few months ago. But the new update seems to have broken my use case for Dropbox - ensuring that the Dropbox copy available offline on my Mac's hard drive is identical to the Dropbox copy in the cloud. My app is at version v162.4.5419. Update - I fixed the issue by switching away from Dropbox to a competing service. It's worse than Dropbox in some ways, but it syncs my files properly.

Thank you so much for posting this. I have the same frustrations. I have been using dropbox since it first started. I have tried other services but dropbox as always been the best in my mind. However, this new smart sync stuff is horrendous. I need my dropbox folder to stay downloaded and local. I can't get it to stop uploading everything to the cloud.

Thank you for your feedback. We are working on adding this option back in to the preferences for default offline files. But for now, you need to right click on the Dropbox folder and click ‘Make available offline’. This should ensure all current and future files will be made available offline, as well as stopping any files from being auto-evicted.

Hey sergimia, how are you today? Can you try selecting these online-only files, then right-clicking on them, then selecting Smart Sync and changing them to Local? That should do the trick. I hope that this helps.

Where I can find this menu option?

How do you disable Smart Sync on the account?

12 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion

Megan
Dropbox Staff
4 years ago
Hey sergimia, how are you today?

Can you try selecting these online-only files, then right-clicking on them, then selecting Smart Sync and changing them to Local?

That should do the trick. I hope that this helps.
- sergimia
  Explorer | Level 3
  4 years ago
  Where I can find this menu option?
  - Jay
    Dropbox Staff
    4 years ago
    Hi sergimia, could you confirm the version of the Dropbox desktop application you're running?
    
    You can do this by hovering your mouse over the Dropbox icon in the system tray or menu bar.
Cherucruz
Helpful | Level 5
3 years ago
How can I completely disable smart sync on MacOS Ventura? I've read other threads on this topic, but none of their answers seem to apply to MacOS Ventura.

One article suggested disabling the feature in Preferences. However when I open my Dropbox app from the menu bar and go into Preferences, to the Sync tab, the described option to control smart sync is missing.
The support article here does not apply to Ventura: https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/filesystem-integration#optout
If I right-click my dropbox folder in Finder and click "Make available offline", at first it seems to make my dropbox folder available offline as desired. However, as soon as I add files to my dropbox from my other computer, the new files still default to "online only" and are not properly synced to my Macbook.
This is a huge issue, as I rely on having a canonical copy of my dropbox available offline on my Macbook, automatically synced as long as my Dropbox menu bar app is online and running. I need a reliable way to ensure that all current and future dropbox files will always be available offline on my Mac. In other words, I need a way to disable smart sync entirely.

Dropbox has worked great since I started using it in mid-2010, up until a few months ago. But the new update seems to have broken my use case for Dropbox - ensuring that the Dropbox copy available offline on my Mac's hard drive is identical to the Dropbox copy in the cloud.

My app is at version v162.4.5419.

Update - I fixed the issue by switching away from Dropbox to a competing service. It's worse than Dropbox in some ways, but it syncs my files properly.
- Jialei_D
  Helpful | Level 5
  3 years ago
  I am having the exact same issue. It's just so frustrating. I am wondering if you could share which competing service you chose? I would like to make the switch.
  
  Thank you.
  - Cherucruz
    Helpful | Level 5
    3 years ago
    I’m not sure if it’s a great idea for me to directly mention it here, but I’ll say that while Dropbox falls flat on my Mac now, the competitor I switched to is tightly integrated with MacOS. Basically, it is a “Cloud Drive” product that “I” found was preinstalled on my Mac.
    
    It has worse Windows support, but so it goes. I barely use my Windows machine for work anyways, I really just needed reliable sync on my Mac.
- Tony26
  Helpful | Level 5
  3 years ago
  Thank you so much for posting this. I have the same frustrations. I have been using dropbox since it first started. I have tried other services but dropbox as always been the best in my mind. However, this new smart sync stuff is horrendous. I need my dropbox folder to stay downloaded and local. I can't get it to stop uploading everything to the cloud.
  - Emmet
    Community Manager
    3 years ago
    
    Thank you for your feedback. We are working on adding this option back in to the preferences for default offline files. But for now, you need to right click on the Dropbox folder and click ‘Make available offline’. This should ensure all current and future files will be made available offline, as well as stopping any files from being auto-evicted.
Jialei_D
Helpful | Level 5
3 years ago
Hi,

I am using Dropbox v166.2.551 on MacOS 13.1 (22C65). I have turned off "Dropbox system extension" and "Online-only files on Mac" on the website. BUT, still, I noticed that recently there are files appeared to be online-only. I would like to continue using Selective Sync to manage my projects.

I am wondering if there is a way to permanently disable online-only. Thank you!

Best,