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SeoulGalVP's avatar
SeoulGalVP
Helpful | Level 6
9 months ago

Our files aren't syncing on a 2023 macOS Sequoia Studio, but are fine on all other computers.

We have now spent all weekend trying to get Dropbox to work. It's been fine for years but for some reason on Friday evening it suddenly got stuck syncing on one of our Mac Studios. We have tried absolutely everything we can think of with the help of chat support and are getting desperate. We're now really behind with work and urgently need files to sync. We've completely deleted Dropbox from the computer, deleted all files and Dropbox related files and then reinstalled it. We've gradually added files to sync. We've changed selective sync to reduce files. We've got most set to online only. We've made sure we're a good 100,000 under the 300,000 limit that seems to cause problems. It stops at a random figure as though it's frozen. Currently it's stuck at 625 files.

 

We simply cannot figure out what is going on and neither can those at Dropbox. Does anyone else know of a potential solution? Are there certain settings in Mac that could inadvertently be different on this particular Studio? It's a 2023 Sequoia Studio and fully up to date. We have another Studio that is working perfectly. And also a Windows computer working perfectly. We all use the same files. None are being edited elsewhere. The main work is done from the problematic Studio. All the edits that have been done are not syncing to Dropbox so nobody else can see them.

 

We are a busy business relying heavily on Dropbox and without it we are up the proverbial creek without a paddle. Please, please can someone make suggestions other than the usual uninstall/unselect files/check network settings etc. It was working perfectly until 2 days ago so something has changed somewhere.

 

Thank you so much to anyone who can help. 🙂

9 Replies

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  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    9 months ago

    I’m sorry to hear about this situation, SeoulGalVP

     

    I had a look into our system and I could locate your ticket with our support team. The case is currently being handled by our specialists, so I’d definitely recommend continuing with them, as we don’t have any account visibility here on the forum. 

     

    One thing to clarify though, did the issue occur after updating your Mac device to Sequoia or is it irrelevant to the update?

     

    Let me know.

  • SeoulGalVP's avatar
    SeoulGalVP
    Helpful | Level 6
    9 months ago

    Hi Nancy, yes, we're just desperate for a solution hence me posting it to see if anyone else has had this issue. Today is the 4th day and it's seriously affecting our ability to do business. No, the update was after the issues started. We ran the update to try and fix the issue. We've done a complete removal and clean install of Dropbox too and it appeared to be fine for a while and then lo and behold, it stuck syncing again. We've tried running in safe mode too. Still no fix. It gets stuck on a random number each time. 😞

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    9 months ago

    I totally understand where you’re coming from, especially since your business is being affected by this. 

     

    I’ve left our support team an internal note, so that they may get back to you as soon as possible.

  • SeoulGalVP's avatar
    SeoulGalVP
    Helpful | Level 6
    9 months ago

    We are absolutely desperate now. Nobody has been able to help. We've even had Apple help us reinstall the IOS but that wasn't the issue. Dropbox has had a complete reinstall several times over. We add files slowly bit by bit and it seems to sync then it suddenly gets stuck on a random number. We are in serious need of a top level expert who can actually log in and work out what's going on. Someone at Dropbox even marked it as solved. Nothing has been solved at any point. There's nothing wrong with our file names, we've spoken to 5 reps including some from the Advanced team and nothing has worked. Please, please tell me how to get real help! We need someone who actually knows what they are doing. This is a serious issue and we are in urgent need of real help!

  • MeredithHussey's avatar
    MeredithHussey
    Explorer | Level 3
    9 months ago

    Hi, I am having exactly the same issue! Have you resolved this? I have spent days trying to sync and back up my files which I rely heavily on for work. The sync keeps getting stuck. So frustrating! I too have uninstalled and reinstalled the Dropbox desktop app multiple times

  • SeoulGalVP's avatar
    SeoulGalVP
    Helpful | Level 6
    9 months ago

    Hi there, we hope that we've found the issue but only time will tell as we are adding things back in very slowly. The Mac created an automatic conflicted copy file and the file name has brackets and I think a semi colon or something like that in it. We weren't aware of it as it was a reasonably old file and happened in the background. It was one of the support staff at Dropbox that eventually found this out. We deleted it and now things seem to be syncing again. What is infuriating is that Dropbox never provided an error message to say that File X cannot be synced which is frankly ridiculous. Instead, it just hung up without telling us why. This sort of behaviour is beyond me. We didn't create the file and hadn't noticed it so we could have gone on like this until we gave up and moved to iCloud or some other provider.

    We signed up for a Business Teams account in sheer desperation so that we could get a number to speak to a human being instead of waiting for hours and hours for a reply to each message. But this created a new problem. Instead of leaving everything exactly as it was and allowing us to decide if folders get moved, it created a separate Teams folder and now my Windows computer has X next to all files that were online only and I can no longer right click to copy Dropbox link or set files to online/offline only. Needless to say, we'll be cancelling it. I send links to customers 30 or 40 times a day and cannot manage without it. Paths of files cannot be changed, ever, due to everything linked to them and it causes masses of problems.

    I hope the above works for you anyway. Fingers crossed it's worked for us!

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    9 months ago

    Hey SeoulGalVP, we really appreciate your feedback on this, but I'm glad to see you're on the right track with your issue.

     

    As for your issue, MeredithHussey, can you give us some more info on your issue?

     

    What's the sync status and version of the app when you hover over your Dropbox icon?

  • MeredithHussey's avatar
    MeredithHussey
    Explorer | Level 3
    9 months ago

    I have sent screenshot of the errors to the support team. I've wasted hours, going on days uninstalling and reinstalling the dropbox desktop app. Right now I cannot even log in which is really frustrating when I am paying for the account! And I use the desktop app for regular back ups. This is a common issue fro reading forums so I hope it is resolved soon with some clear instructions / fixes. 

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    9 months ago

    Hey Meredith, I appreciate your comments on this and rest assured that they'll be passed along to our team.

     

    Can you also give us your ticket number, since you're already in contact with our support team?

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