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

Forum Discussion

Brice d.3's avatar
Brice d.3
Explorer | Level 3
9 years ago
Solved

Two computers one account

If I have two computers with Dropbox and each one is using the same Dropbox account what would happen if I start with both computer synced like this:

 

/Dropbox/Folder1

   File1.txt

/Dropbox/Folder2

   File2.txt

 

 

Now I turn off computer 2.

On computer 1 I change the above to the following by renaming the first folder and deleting the second folder.

 

/Dropbox/Folder1NewName    #folder name change

   File1.txt                                     #content change

   File2.txt                                    #file added

 

Now I turn on computer 2 and let it sync. What would be the result after syncing?

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    9 years ago
    The result would be :
    Folder renamed
    Folder 2 deleted AS WELL AS ITS SUB FOLDERS (i.e. File2.txt)

    Dropbox is a syncing tool. So whatever happens on one device mirrors to all others.

5 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion
  • Brice d.3's avatar
    Brice d.3
    Explorer | Level 3
    9 years ago
    And sorry for not just trying it, but I'm scared to death to turn on computer 2 right now.
  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    9 years ago
    The result would be :
    Folder renamed
    Folder 2 deleted AS WELL AS ITS SUB FOLDERS (i.e. File2.txt)

    Dropbox is a syncing tool. So whatever happens on one device mirrors to all others.
  • Brice d.3's avatar
    Brice d.3
    Explorer | Level 3
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the quick reply. That simple "mirror" idea seems to help me a lot. But, obviously, if both computers are changing, then "mirror" doesn't really represent a complete analogy (in my case above it does and so your answer is perfect for my immediate need).

     

    Is there a document that I can access that describes how Dropbox resolves conflicts? Simple file conflicts I understand, but there are many folder conflicts that I can't grasp how they would be resolved.

     

    For example, computer1 deletes Folder1 and computer2 adds a file to Folder1 before either can sync. In this example, let's say that the delete folder arrives at the server first. What happens to the file when it arrives?

     

    I suppose once my laptop syncs (which I am no longer afraid of :), I will just try these ideas and see what happens. But thanks for your time and any comment you might have.

  • PJM3's avatar
    PJM3
    Explorer | Level 4
    9 years ago

    The Sync is good but one of my computers is low on disk space so I decided I dont want all the stored folders but if I delete any folders the sync will remove it from the from other computer.

    is there a way to organise that one computer only syncs with selected folders?

     

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!