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New Dropbox files sync as online-only on Windows, even though I want them to be available offline.
I am a long-time user of DropBox, having been a very early adopter. I have used the program successfully across several computers, phones and tablets, pretty much without issues. However, I recently moved to a new laptop, Lenovo ThinkPad, and now something is different. Files added to DropBox on another computer, don't synch to the new laptop until I open them on the new laptop. Any thoughts on why this may be happening would be very much appreciated.
Hi Dieselista, just for clarification, did you also right click the Dropbox folder itself and mark it as available offline, in order for all files to get the green check marks?
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I don't know how I can make this any clearer; I do not have the files set to "online-only", because I have to I access the photos when off line. See the attached screenshot.
Previously, files populated onto my computer as soon as I uploaded them to DropBox on another computer, or as fast as that could occur with available internet speed. Now, those files appear as clouds, no green check mark, until I open the folder, after which they populate to my hard drive. So, if I have uploaded photo files to a folder on my desktop computer, if I then try to access them, even days later, on my laptop, while in flight with no internet for instance, they are unavailable. Once I have internet, and I open that folder, they populate. I'd like them to populate, "green check mark" when ever the laptop has internet access, without having to open the folder to force this to happen.
- Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey Dieselista, happy Monday!
So, to clarify this, when the files are set to "online-only", you only see their placeholders in your Dropbox folder and they'll have the cloud icon on them.
Once you open them, they basically get downloaded to your computer and that's why they get the green check mark.
Is this the behavior you're seeing? Or do the photos get the green check marks only after opening the folder that contains them (without opening the individual photos themselves)?
I'm sure I'm not using the online option, however, if I was, then the green check marks should never be present. Once I open the folder the individual files eventually get green marks.
- Mark
Super User II
Yes, the cloud, however, I am not using the on line only option
If they are showing cloud then you are using online only as a setting. It is pretty much standard now on all Dropbox installs unfortunately.
Yes, the cloud, however, I am not using the on line only option, and eventually the clouds do change to green check marks, but only after opening the folder.
- Mark
Do they have a white cloud next to them instead before you open them? If so thats expected behaviour if you are using Online Only files.
Thanks.
The individual files within a folder, photos in this case, do not have the green check mark long after they have been in the DropBox, they only get the check mark if I open the folder, after which it synchs.
- Jay
Hi Dieselista, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Could you clarify what you mean by files not syncing onto the new laptop?
Do you mean that the files aren't showing any recent changes made to those files, or the file aren't being made local on the new machine?
Any other info or screenshots would be helpful!
