idlk files from Adobe InDesign are blocking the syncing of the desktop app.

When you edit Adobe InDesign files (.indd) in a Dropbox folder, InDesign automatically creates a temporary lock file with the extension .idlk. This lock file signals to other users that the file is currently being edited.

The problem: Dropbox tries to sync these .idlk files, which can lead to various errors:

• Sync conflicts and duplicate files
• Error messages like "File is being used by another program"
• Endless sync loops
• Blocked synchronization of the entire folder
• 

   

Why Does This Happen?

InDesign creates the .idlk file when opening a document and only deletes it when closing. While the file is open:

1. The .idlk file is locked by InDesign
2. Dropbox cannot read/synchronize the file
3. Dropbox reports a sync error
4. Other files in the same folder may also become blocked

What Dropbox Is Missing: A Real Solution

Currently, Dropbox offers no practical solution for this problem. The only official method is manually setting Extended File Attributes via command line – for each individual file. With dynamically generated files like .idlk, this is simply not feasible.

What we need: A native file exclusion filter directly in Dropbox, such as:

• Global pattern filtering – Exclude file types like *.idlk, *.tmp, *.lock across the board
• A .dropboxignore file – Similar to .gitignore, with wildcard support and recursive application to all subfolders
• UI integration – Settings → "Exclude file types from sync"

Git has elegantly solved this problem for decades with .gitignore. A simple text file with:

*.idlk *.tmp .DS_Store

...and all matching files are automatically ignored, in all subfolders, without any manual intervention.

The Community Has Been Waiting for Years

In the Dropbox forum, there have been threads for over 5 years with thousands of votes and hundreds of comments requesting exactly this feature. So far without any response.