Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨💻? Find out how to check here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
I worked on and synced a file and it synced as 0 bytes
I was working on a R script. The moment I saved the file and quit RStudio, the script file which is synced in a dropbox folder is turned to a 0 byte file. When I tried to open the file from dropbox w...
Are you on a Mac by any chance?
Mac's create 0 byte files which are then populated with data as they are 'saved'. It sounds like Dropbox has saved the 0byte file that was created at the start of the save but then its not sync'd correctly due to the error given - which my guess is because Dropbox then locked that file while it sync'd. Thats almost certainly why its not saved updates as well during day unless you are over quota and so syncing isnt working.
Unfortunately if its not saved locally (to the folder) or available as a recovered file when you open the software its not saved and so not recoverable. It wont be in recycle bin etc. unless you actually moved it there.
www.dropbox.com/events will show you what has sync'd to the system.
Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorIf the files are online-only, what happens if you make the file available offline from the right click menu? Can you open them in Word normally?
I can download and open in Word, but then any changes I make are not saved to Dropbox - even when I manually "save as" and save to the Dropbox folder it came from. It doesn't matter if it's a doc originally created in Word and saved to Dropbox, or a doc I created in Dropbox and then downloaded to Word. In that case, it shouldn't matter if it has "synced" since I'm replacing the old doc in Dropbox with the new - except the new one doesn't save. My Dropbox seems to be syncing automatically as it should but there is now no longer a way to save files back and forth. I can:
1. See and edit in Dropbox OR
2. Download and edit in Word, then save to Desktop (but the Dropbox version won't change, even if I save the revised version to Dropbox)
3. If I save to Desktop I can attach it to an email and send, but I can't attach the Dropbox version - it's always 0 bytes
4. Dropbox syncs fine with my Desktop/Docs
So, it's just a weird disconnect between Word and Dropbox. Excel seems fine.
Sorry this is confusing - it is to me too!
- Megan
Hi JanaV, sorry to jump in here!
Which version of our app do you use on your end? You can find this by hovering your mouse over your little Dropbox icon.
Also, when you make a file available offline, are you able to see its size then?
I'm using 154.4.53.63 - says it's up to date.
Anything that was created in Dropbox says 0 bytes until downloaded.
The version downloaded from Dropbox I can see the file size. I can open it and make changes.
However, if I try to save it back to Dropbox and override the current Dropbox version, it doesn't work. Dropbox always shows the old version (though I don't get an error message).
I have 2 separate versions - the one in Dropbox and the one on my desktop. The desktop one will sync to Dropbox, but 99% of my files are in Dropbox only (after a catastrophic crash earlier this year where I lost everything on my hard drive).
Jana
- Walter
Hey JanaV, sorry to jump in here.
Could you please clarify how you save the file in Dropbox when you are finished editing?
The file should sync automatically to the web, when you save and close it.
Also, can you send us a screenshot of the folder the file is in?
While in the folder, can you right click it, press get info, and send us a screenshot of that as well?
