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scotthatton's avatar
scotthatton
New member | Level 2
2 years ago

Online-only files are being redownloaded again

Let's presume I wish to save space on my PC by making a file online only. I

I'll show the steps.

 

1 - I create a brand new video file. This isn't a small file - 3Gb or so

2 - I move it into a Dropbox-linked directory

3 - It uploads and, at my broadband speed, this takes an hour or so

4 - Once it's fully uploaded, I right-click that file and choose "Online only". It goes grey for a few seconds so I assume it's now online only.

5 - A couple of seconds later, I get a message that the file is "Downloading". Indeed as are many other files in that directory now.

6 - In time, my PC disk space shows 0 bytes left and that "Dropbox has stopped syncing. Please create more space by making files online only."

7 - Grrr

 

desktop
sync

11 Replies

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Hi scotthatton, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

     

    If the file is being redownloaded, then it could be that an app or service is requesting access to the files in that folder.

     

    Could you try quitting all open apps and services and see if the issue is repeated?

     

    This will help me to assist further!

  • scotthatton's avatar
    scotthatton
    New member | Level 2
    2 years ago

    The only program I have open at that point is the standard Windows File Explorer

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    So, you don't have any other programs running in the system tray like security or antivirus software?

  • scotthatton's avatar
    scotthatton
    New member | Level 2
    2 years ago

    I have Bitdefender open constantly but once a file is online only, it wouldn't be physically there to scan by an anti-virus program

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Yes, but an antivirus program can start a scan, or request details for the Dropbox folder, and the Dropbox desktop app would detect the request and then download the file. 

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    I'd recommend disabling it temporarily to see if this is what is causing the file to return from being online-only.

     

    Otherwise, there is another app or service that, when you run it, requests the file or folder to be downloaded.

  • scotthatton's avatar
    scotthatton
    New member | Level 2
    2 years ago

    I have turned Bitdefender off for an hour and the problem remains. BTW I also updated the Dropbox software for Windows

     

    It seems to be the act of going into a directory with many online files. Once I access the directory, a set of random files download themselves

     

     

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Hey scotthatton, sorry to jump in here.

     

    Can you hover over the Dropbox icon in your system tray and let me know the sync status and version of the Dropbox app?

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