There's a .canary file causing syncing issues on my Dropbox app.

I hope this thread is still active... I'm experiencing the same problem as the original poster. The one-byte .canary file is causing a warning when I do a backup, presumably because it can't be copied. When I try to copy it to my desktop I get error 0x80070185 "the cloud operation was unsuccessful".

I'd respectfully argue with the contention that Dropbox didn't put the .canary file in .dropbox.cache. My observations:

• I deleted the .dropbox.cache folder and then manually disabled the Dropbox services. The folder stayed deleted for several days, and I received no warnings when doing a backup. The next time I restarted the computer, which turned the services back on, the folder, including .canary, came back immediately.
• I then deleted the folder again, and went through the "advanced reinstallation" procedure described above. The folder came back immediately. All the files in the folder have the exact same "date modified".
• In both cases, the .canary file shows the same "sync pending" status it had before. It shows Windows file attributes ALOPUM; I'm not sure what some of these mean.

If that file is coming from somewhere other than Dropbox, then it is pretty certain that Dropbox is copying it to this location. What would cause that?

Thanks for the help.

Hey DerryK! Can you send me a screenshot of the .canary file and its exact filepath on your computer?

Hi, Nancy. Below is the listing of the cache directory along with my attempts to type the contents (which is only one byte anyway). The filepath is

   C:\Users\Derry\Dropbox\.dropbox.cache\.canary

Hi DerryK, are you able to ignore that file in your backup software?

I have the same question/problem, the same .canary file in the same folder structure but under my username, whereas none of the other dropbox users under my account (i manage the account) have this in theirs, and none of them have the problem i have which is a red x over dropbox in file explorer, with "Syncing" that keeps growing every time a file is changed as if it's still stuck on some file that hasn't synced correctly.  And yet under "sync issues" none are listed.  I've had open tickets with DB and i've gotten useless advice to reinstall the app but the problem persists.

running version 222.4.5042

Hey EricPleaseHelp, sorry to hear about that syncing issue of yours.

You mentioned that you've already contacted our Support team about this. Would you mind sharing your ticket number with me, in order to locate on our system?

I'd like to check the steps provided, and the progress you made there. Did you also perform the advanced reinstall on your end? If so, did you notice the same behavior after it?

Thanks!

The ticket is/was 24878673 which was closed by dropbox but without the problem resolved. I forced it to be reopen then it was closed again by dropbox without the problem being resolved.

Yes i did (and redid, and redid) an advanced reinstall to wipe every trace of the computer. And with my added manual step to delete completely the .dropbox.cache folder under the root dropbox folder on my local drive since this is where the problematic .canary file appears.

Then after that, reinstalling dropbox, and waiting for all files to resync this is what i get after that clean reinstall:

The sync icon on the taskbar notification area still says it is "Downloading 1 file..." with "Syncing 1 file" appearing when i click on it.. And in windows11 file explorer there's a red X next to the dropbox icon next to the root folder which is synced.

In win11 fine explorer, every folder on my local computer beneath the dropbox root folder has a green check mark next to it, as expected. But the hidden folder ".dropbox.cache" (which was re-created after installing) has its status to be the icon of a grey circle with - inside, and opening up that folder shows a file .canary with the circular arrows on its status showing that it is still syncing.  It is a 1kb file.

This is the same as happened all other prior times when i logged the problem.  If i make a change to a file, it syncs correctly, but dropbox still returns to that 1 hung file.

Whatever .canary is, it is tripping up the dropbox app to be telling me it hasn't finished syncing - dropbox still tells me it is waiting to download 1 file.  when i click "view sync issues" there is nothing being reported" but the icon and app say it is syncing 1.

In theory if the dropbox app were to ignore that .canary file (as it does the desktop.ini hidden files within each windows folder) then presumably everything will work correctly as expected: the app won't say it's waiting on that to be synced, and there won't be a red X next dropbox reminding me every time i'm looking at explorer

i am running win11 pro.  the dropbox folder is on a physical drive on my lenovo thinkpad - not a network drive. this problem seems to have started about the time of a dropbox app update when it started showing "status" columns so going back to about february or so.  i do not have any additional backup system scanning this drive or folder.

Screenshots below:

Hey EricPleaseHelp! To clarify, have you tried to ignore the .canary file on your desktop app and Dropbox is still stuck trying to sync it?

Just tried that but does not solve the problem.

I ran powershell as admin with this:

Set-Content -Path "xxxx\.dropbox.cache\.canary" -Stream com.dropbox.ignored -Value 1

(xxxx replacing the actual path)

This powershell commad ran without an error, or any verbose response.

The .canary file shows it was updated (new date modified) but the status of that file is still blue arrows, so not being ignored by dropbox.  Not greyed out as dropbox says it will be after being ignored.  i ran the powershell command while dropbox was running, presumably i needed to do that?

Since wiping-reinstalling dropbox it's now back to the problem before where every file modified by the team shows up as yet another item to sync, even though it does sync. 

Screenshot below showing how every folder reported as fully synced yet dropbox still reporting problems within that .dropbox.cache folder claiming it's downloading a file and uploading 8 even though i would expect 0 files needing to be down/up/loaded

a look inside the cache folder:

Since the whole hidden .cache directory was created by dropbox, logically it seems the dropbox app needs to inherently ignore any .canary file within that directory it creates, since those are dropbox-system files and not user files.  I assume dropbox put the .canary file there, or if not i have no idea how it got there and reappeared after a clean install of dropbox without that hidden folder to begin with.

Hey EricPleaseHelp - thanks for your updates on this and all the additional information you provided so far. 

The canary file you notice is probably created by the Dropbox application to run on your computer, but the cache folder should be hidden anyhow. You can think of it as the staging level of syncing which is the Dropbox desktop app's core feature. 

That said, can you try fixing your hardlinks and permissions as outlined here and let me know if syncing gets stuck again? 

I'd also make sure to run the most updated version of the app which you can find here if needed.

Keep me posted! 

This problem, the canary file and folder can't be backed up because they're not accessible and can't be deleted, appeared on my W11 system about a week ago running the free backup app, Syncback. Has anyone come up with a simple effective solution to this problem.

Hi there Johnxi - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Can you clarify the status and version of the Dropbox desktop app as shown in your taskbar ?

Also, where exactly would you like to back this up and what error are you getting if you try to delete it somehow? 

Essentially, I have the same problem and indications everybody  has mentioned previously.
Dropbox is level 225.4.4896 and is up to date.
There is a file in dropbox called  "C:\Users\xxxxx\Dropbox\.dropbox.cache\.canary"

When I try to back up Dropbox using syncback to a removable hard disk I get an error.
When I search for the .canary file on online Dropbox, it says file not found.

When I search my local drop box folder, it does find it.
It also shows two circular arrows under the status column.

But when I try to delete it:
see below

When try again and I click yes, the System thinks for about 5 seconds and then returns to file explorer. and the file still  exists. No errors are indicated. In other words, the file cannot be deleted in normal ways.

I tried File Locksmith to unlock the file but no luck.

So, there you have it Walter, Any ideas?

Thanks for the additional information Johnxi - much appreciated.

I just wanted to let you know that our team is aware of this issue and looking into it at the moment.

We'll provide you with an update as soon as we know more.

Good idea, took a bit of doing but I finally managed to prevent the \Dropbox\.dropbox.cache folder from being backed up. So I guess that's the workaround. Thank you rich.