It takes a long time for my files to become available offline, or the syncing fails completely.

Thank you for your help.

I have the screenshot you requested. It appears this messaging system will not allow me to attach a file, so I have pasted it below. I hope it is legible to you.

Thanks for the screenshot and all the info provided, coonrodc.

Allow me to jump in here as well and suggest that you use selective sync, to reduce the number of files in your Dropbox folder, so that we can see if it helps with your syncing being stuck.

And let us know what you find.

I am confused by your last recommendation.

I dont know how I can use selective sync to reduce the number of files in my Dropbox folder.  My understanding of selective sync is that it is designed to reduce the usage of my local drive, but that any excluded files will remain in the cloud but.  How can I reduce the number of these files without deleting them or risking their loss?

As I believe I have mentioned before, I am moving large files, one at a time, completely off my local drive and off Dropbox onto a flash drive, but that process is slow and laborious.

coonrodc, what you mention is correct; if you remove large folders via selective sync, they will no longer take up space from your hard drive (as they’ll be removed from your Dropbox app), but they’ll be accessible on www.dropbox.com, like they're now. 

When saying that you’d like to reduce the number of your files without deleting them, do you mean that you’d like to be able to access everything both on www.dropbox.com AND the desktop app?

No one seemed to have a solution, so I gave up.  My system was at its usefful life anyway, so I decided it was time to get a new one.  When myy new computer arrived, I installed the Dropbox app.  The installation appeared to be successful, but no files at all will sync to my local drive.  The indicator says "starting",  but after 12 house, it is still "starting.

Hi coonrodc, happy Monday! 

Is it possible that you have a security app, like an antivirus, VPN, firewall, proxy, etc., that might be interfering with the Dropbox app? If you do, make sure to temporarily disable them, to see if that helps.

Also, could you try rebooting the machine and then quitting the Dropbox app, and after that quitting every open app or service in the system tray. Once everything has quit, try opening the Dropbox app and see if it connects.

Keep me posted! 

I was really hoping you found a solution because I have a similar issue. It works on one computer but not the other and I need it to all be available offline because I don't always have internet available. I have a lot less data than you as well. Regardless, thanks for trying. 

Unfortunately, it looks to me like this is the new Dropbox way. I've installed it on 5 new systems, using various accounts, free and paid, Windows and Mac.. 

The very first thing I do is "Default sync state" set to "Available offline" on all computers.

I never, ever, want to have a file inaccessible while working in an area without internet, so 100% of my files need to be synced at all times. However, countless times, I make an update and the file stays "in the cloud" on other machines until it's opened.

Multiple support tickets.

I've got the same issue. Selective sync is set up as desired. Most files not available offline until I open them one by one while online.

Not good. Please advise.

Hi everyone, just for clarification, have you marked the entire Dropbox folder as available offline from Explorer/Finder to force the files to download again?