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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.
Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorHi 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? This seems to be happening to me too...
My use case:
- Attempting to sync a folder full of mp3's to a new computer via the Mac OS Dropbox App (v154.4.5363)
- I have verified that the files exist on my Dropbox (accessed via web) and proved this by playing a few of the files back
Problem:
- When files are synced with the new computer, they appear with the correct filenames and folder locations, but all files are 0 bytes and cannot be played back
Is this somehow related to this issue or should I open a new thread?
- Alex
Hi Walter,
I'll try to explain:
- If a Word doc is on my Desktop Word app, it's fine - I can save it and it gets backed up to Dropbox automatically. I can access it and edit it in Dropbox or on my desktop app.
- The trick is 99% of my files are currently only in Dropbox, since I had a hard drive meltdown and had to completely wipe my computer and reboot with macOS Monterey. Fortunately I had saved pretty much everything in Dropbox, but now Word docs in Dropbox no longer connect with Word desktop app. The are Dropbox-online only.
- I think, after much experimentation, what I have to do is open all the Dropbox-only files in Word on Desktop, then edit them and hit save. That seems to work (as opposed to using "Save As" to replace the doc on Dropbox). Then it becomes a real file again, with a listed file size.
So, I think I've fixed it? It may have to do with Dropbox not working well with OS Monterey.
Thanks,
Jana
- Jay
Hi scarlettalex, if you're on a paid plan, then you can make your files available offline by right clicking the folders for the files to download to your machine.
JanaV, I'm glad to hear you were able to fix the file sizes, in general if a file is offline on the machine, it wouldn't be zero bytes.
Thank you that def worked!
I have the same issue- has this been solved? I can open and view the files, but when I attempt to send them as an attachment they all say "0 bytes" and the file is essentially empty.
I've found if I open it on my Desktop it magically appears even in Dropbox as the original size. Which is a pain if you have tons of docs, but I'm not doing them all at once - just as needed.
