Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨‍💻? Find out how to check here.

Forum Discussion

Fowzie T.'s avatar
Fowzie T.
Helpful | Level 6
9 years ago
Solved

Smart Sync storage issue on macOS Sierra 10.12- macOS High Sierra 10.13.3.

I'm really confused, the premise of smart sync is to free up local storage. This is a screenshot of a folder which contains about 2GB of data.  Am I doing something wrong?   https://www.dropbox.c...
Mac
sync
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    8 years ago
    Howdy folks,
     
    I’m , I’m working on the Community team at Dropbox & I’m posting here so as to stir this discussion towards a different route. Without further ado, I’m going to split this thread off into a number of different ones, as I’d like to avoid any confusion in regards to the topic or the status of this conversation. 
     
    Why are you splitting the thread?
    For context, this thread has been around since last February & a number of very separate (and now resolved) Smart Sync issues have been reported here. This separation was triggered as we like to group distinct issues together to better help users discover relevant content, advice and to help self-resolve.
     
    Don’t worry, no information is being removed, we are however moving some posts into other threads & for that reason, I’m going to include links to all the new threads at the bottom here. 
     
    As an example, this thread contains a lot of information & troubleshooting around an issue we experienced on Mac OS 10.13.3, something now resolved. We wouldn’t want people on 10.13.4 to attempt troubleshooting steps that weren’t relevant to their current state.
      
    But I still have my issue!
    We’ve moved all the open discussions into separate threads listed at the bottom. Apologies if we missed yours! Regardless, anyone who has opened a ticket with Support, that ticket will remain open and is unrelated to this split. 
     
    So, has this been solved forever? 
    The initial behavior reported here has been, however this thread has become a single point for a vast number of other Smart Sync posts,  some of which should have their own threads, some open, some now resolved.
     
    Where do I post Smart Sync comments now?
    Either in one of the below threads - or, if they don’t match the behavior you're getting, you may feel free to create a new one! :slight_smile: As this thread will remain public, you may also use it as a point of reference, so as to let us know of any troubleshooting steps you've followed from those mentioned above. 
     
    Thanks for your co-operation and please keep the discussion going in the below, or new, threads!
     
     
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    8 years ago
    For note, issues caught up in this thread, that should have had their own threads included:
     
    Issue 1: I can’t enable Smart Sync at all: 
    • Usually this was the result of an incorrect installation & in such cases, re-installing anew helped fix the issue. Alternatively, if you were running a Beta version of the Dropbox app on your desktop, you may need to check if this works on the most updated Stable version (Note: It's currently 48.4.58). 
    • Status: :white_check_mark:
    Issue 2: I’m on a Professional plan & I can’t get Smart Sync to work either: 
    • Some users on the Professional plan were experiencing an issue utilizing Smart Sync, as they had needed to enable System Extensions previously, which has been documented on this resource. 
    • Status:  :white_check_mark:
    Issue 3: I’ve made my files online-only, though they’re still using up my storage locally: 
    • In some cases, users reported that Smart Synced files might be locally stored in the cache folder a little longer, hence taking up space. Clearing the cache folder should resolve this issue. 
    • Status: :white_check_mark:
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    8 years ago
    Issue 4: I followed the instructions on your resources & set up my files as online-only, though I can see that they’re still taking up space on my pc/ Mac.
    • The Properties (Win) and Get Info (Mac OS) panel will indicate the actual file size instead of the size on disk, as you may expect. “Size on disk” is the space being taken up by a placeholder file and should be around 0kb.
    • Status: :white_check_mark:
    Issue 5: I can see that my Dropbox folder on my Mac OSX (v.42.4.114) reported file & folder size incorrectly, making it look like files were still residing on my hard disk.
    • After further investigation, we were able to determine that the Finder was showing the wrong size on disk for folders with compressed files.
    • Status: :white_check_mark:
    Issue 6: I can’t back-up my online-only files on the TimeMachine migration assistant & whenever it tries to access them, this action brings them back locally. 
    • This is related to the way TimeMachine reads file sizes and is an on-going issue, though this issue lies with Apple’s software. De-selecting the Dropbox folder when restoring if possible will work around this issue.
    • Status: :arrows_counterclockwise:
    Issue 7: Third-party disk management apps report Smart Synced files are present locally.
    • Some third-party app may read the nominal file size rather than the physical size. This is not a Dropbox issue, but down to the way some apps are built.
    • Status: :white_check_mark:

    That's all from me! As usual, I'll be around in case you'd need me to clarify matters in more detail, so feel free to ping me & I'll do my best to check back with you.

ak_crux's avatar
ak_crux
New member | Level 2
9 years ago

Hi,

 

Reading these posts from March of this year, I can say that I have macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) and smart sync files set to online only show as taking space on my hard drive.

 

So this still is not working right. 

 

Anyone else experience this?

 

 

m_a_l_c_o_l_m's avatar
m_a_l_c_o_l_m
Helpful | Level 5
9 years ago

tl;dr You need to know that just because you upgraded to a Professional account and Smart Sync may seem like it's working, your local Dropbox app may need some tweaking to fully work.

 

I signed up for Professional and then went through my folders, right-clicked, Smart Select > Online Only. The icon next to the folders changed from a filled in green check-mark to an empty green check-mark so I thought everything was doing what it was supposed to. But then I didn't notice any change in the free space on my harddrive. 

 

Eventually I looked in Preferences on the Dropbox desktop app on my MacBook Pro (running MacOs High Sierra 10.13) and found that there was a little link saying "Enable Smart Sync". I clicked it and had to go to System Preferences to allow Dropbox to install some other little program. I then rebooted my computer (just to be safe).

 

Now, when I click on a file or folder and click Smart Select > Online Only the icon changes to a grey cloud. See a screenshot below. It seems that the the filled in green check mark means a Local synced file, the empty green check-mark indicates a synced folder that contains a combination of Local and Online Only files, and the grey cloud indicates a file or folder that is completely Online Only.

 

It didn't happen instantaneously but now, slowly, the free space on my harddrive is increasing.

 

  • Sanchez's avatar
    Sanchez
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    9 years ago
    Hey m_a_l_c_o_l_m, welcome to our community! 

    This is very interesting indeed. What version of our app are you using? The latest stable version is 37.4.29. If you’re using a beta, you’ll see something like a xx.3.xx, instead of the xx.4.xx, and we recommend going to a stable build. 

    Let me know when you have a chance. 

    Thanks for posting this! 
    Cheers 
  • m_a_l_c_o_l_m's avatar
    m_a_l_c_o_l_m
    Helpful | Level 5
    9 years ago

    Now that I followed the steps I outlined in my last post it's version 37.4.29. I don't know what version it was before I followed that step. Is there a way that I can look that up for you?

     

    I'm pretty sure that the little program that was installed is called "Dropbox system extension". I see now that, in my settings, under General, there's a little toggle to turn that on or off and the information mouse-over says that it's necessary for Smart Sync to work (see screenshot below).

     

  • Sanchez's avatar
    Sanchez
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    9 years ago
    Thanks for getting back to me. Don’t worry about trying to find the last version you were on. 

    Yeah, I see now what was going on… the Dropbox System Extension must be allowed! I’m glad that you figured this out! 

    So, how is the Smart Sync working out?

    Cheers
  • m_a_l_c_o_l_m's avatar
    m_a_l_c_o_l_m
    Helpful | Level 5
    9 years ago

    Hi Sanchez,

     

    I would recommend that when someone upgrades their plan to Professional (which is likely to be because of Smart Sync) that Dropbox should send them an email which includes some message saying, "You will need to make sure that the Dropbox System Extension is installed for Smart Sync to work. Here's how you can do that."

     

    It could also be good to explain that people won't necessarily see immediate space being freed up as soon as you mark a file or folder "Online Only" - it may take a couple of hours to start to see the changes.

  • Sanchez's avatar
    Sanchez
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    9 years ago
    m_a_l_c_o_l_m, I’m letting our team know about your suggestions. 

    Thanks for posting! 
  • makedonetz's avatar
    makedonetz
    New member | Level 2
    9 years ago

    Same problem here! Any ideas how to fix this?

    Size of dropbox folder 250GB, but size on a disk 83GB..

  • thelouacosta's avatar
    thelouacosta
    Helpful | Level 5
    8 years ago

    I have been having a similar problem. I upgraded to Dropbox Pro and Smartsynced all my files to "online" to free up storage space on my computer. 2 weeks later, I am unable to Smartsync files online. Any new files I add only appear locally. I have had an open ticket with Dropbox regarding this for over a month. I have since uninstalled and reinstalled Dropbox several times but the issue still persists. I'm also running High Sierra. Any suggestions or feedback on how to solve this problem would be greatly appreciated.

  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    8 years ago
    Hey diamonte21, as your request has currently reached a higher level of support, I’ve made sure to transfer all your additional comments there, since they’ll be able to go through some hands-on troubleshooting, based on your account-specific info we have on our tools. 
     
    Rest assured you’re in safe hands now & they’ll follow-up with you on this email chain, so that you work together towards a fix. 
     
    - thelouacosta I’d like to check for your ticket internally & see if there’s a pending update by our higher-level technicians. Please let me know your ticket# in your next message, so as to locate it internally & make sure this is reviewed as soon as possible. 
     
    Thanks in advance & I’ll be awaiting your next posts here! 
  • idennis's avatar
    idennis
    Explorer | Level 3
    8 years ago
    So still no update from dropbox or Apple. This realy sucks!
    Why don’t you fix this. My laptop is not made for 1TB storage.

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

The Dropbox Community team is active from Monday to Friday. We try to respond to you as soon as we can, usually within 2 hours.

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X, Facebook or Instagram.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!