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Setting folders to Online-Only has left countless orphaned files on Mac OS
I have a folder in Dropbox called "~ ~ 0 DropBox Only." For ease of reference, I'm just going to call it "Dropbox Only." It contains many many folders that I intended to make online-only, having st...
Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorHi xmarc999, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
It sounds like you were looking for something similar to selective sync, which would prevent the entire folder and all files within from appearing on your local machine.
Could you clarify what you mean by orphaned files exactly?
A screenshot showing this would be appreciated.
In looking to make good screenshots, I found that the problem is scattered across various folders within Dropbox. All of the folders impacted have been turned on and off for selective syncing over time.
By "orphaned," I mean that everything about the folders and files look normal when viewed using Finder on the Mac. But when I try to open them, either directly from Finder or from the "Open" dialog within an application, I get some sort of error, or nothing happens.
In this first composite screenshot, I try to open a PDF and get the error shown:
In the first frame, we see two files in a folder. The first has a cloud icon with an exclamation, and the second has a cloud with a downward arrow. Both get the same error when I try to open them.
