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llw212's avatar
llw212
Explorer | Level 3
19 days ago

Installed Dropbox on a new Mac and got "selective sync conflicts" on this and other linked computers

How do I fix the "Selective Sync Conflict" issue, which is now present on three computers:  new Mac mini, 2021 MacBook Pro and 2017 iMac?

Two days ago, I installed dropbox on new Mac mini, with the intention of synching ALL files/folders on to mini hard drive.  Yesterday, I noticed some files had downloaded green circle with white check and most files had empty cloud icon.  Many files/folders displayed "Selective Sync Conflict" in the file/folder name, which I have never seen before.  

I have a huge dropbox account, nearly 4 Gb, with many subfolders.  Any advice to separately click (download) file by file would be daunting.

I tried to resolve this with chatGPT and Grok.  BIGGER MESS.  

  1. Mac mini.  Last night, I erased the Mac mini and re-installed Mac OS from scratch.  This am, I reinstalled dropbox.  Now, on Mac mini, all dropbox folders (still in the process of synching) are empty cloud (some with down arrow, some with no arrow).  None of the files/folders have green circles with white checks), and 90% of folders have "Selective Sync Conflict" label.  From the dropbox icon on top menu bar, I had selected Default sync state for new files => Available offline.
  2. 2.  When I log into the online dropbox account, I similarly see "Selective Sync Conflict" labels on most files/folders.
  3. Now, my MBP dropbox folders/files display either a solid green with white check, or a white circle with green check, or a different gray circle cloud icon.  Most files indicate "Selective Sync Conflict" where they never did before.
  4. 2017 iMac (which has selected folders) shows all gray cloud icons, which I can activate by double clicking =>.green circle with white check.  

I read that "Selective Sync Conflict" means there are duplicate folders, but I don't see any duplicated folders.  

I hope I doo not have to repeat corrections on three devices.  Haven't looked at my iPhone dropbox, too scared.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.  

Thank you.

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