Mac Finder continues to show large size of Dropbox Folder despite everything being online-only

Hi, everyone. Thanks in advance for your help, wisdom, and support.

I have a problem several others have experienced, but none of the solutions I found here seem to be working. Simply put, I have around 300 GB in my Dropbox folder and have everything set to be online only (or so I assume?) Mac finder is still showing this 300 GB as being used, and it is affecting other uses that require a lot of space (video editing, audio sample packages, etc.) I do need that space back. "Space Lens" in CleanMyMac shows the proper amount of space used ( a bit under 500 GB of my 1TB built-in drive on my MacBook Pro M1.

Here are the specs: Macbook Pro M1; 16GB RAM; 1Tb drive

OS: Sonoma 14.5

Dropbox Desktop Version: 204.4.5420

I have searched the Dropbox folder for the ".dropbox.cache" file, but it does not exist. Here is a screenshot of the only files that appear after invoking "shift-command-.":

Here is a screenshot (blurred for privacy concerns) of what the folder's directory looks like. Unless I'm mistaken, shouldn't all of these files be online only?:

The Dropbox directory resides in the "Cloudstorage" in the Library, which is precisely where I believe it should be.

Any help or insight the community can offer would be tremendously appreciated. Many thanks in advance!

desktop

Mac

Storage space

26 Replies

Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
Sorry to see that you're having this issue, Brucknerphile.

What is the current sync status of the Dropbox app, when you hover your mouse over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar?

Also, is the "online-only files on Mac" option enabled in your account settings here?

Let me know and we'll go from there.
Brucknerphile
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago
Dear Hannah,

Thank you so much for your swift and speedy reply.

Hovering over the icon in the menu bar shows the software version and "up to date." However, the "online only files on Mac" toggle was not on. I tried that yesterday with no result as part of my due diligence before hopping on here, and there is no change this time either. Per the pop-up message, when I enabled the toggle, I waited a few minutes and restarted the desktop application. There is no change.

Thank you again, and I await your input.

JS
Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
Hi Brucknerphile, could you right click the Dropbox folder and choose 'Get info' and attach that screenshot here?
Brucknerphile
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago
Dear Jay,

Thank you so much for your input and help.
Please find the "get info" pop-up attached, as requested.

Thank you once again. I look forward to hearing from you.

JS

PS: I am aware that it is saying "1.9MB on disk", but Finder is still including all the space in its calculations.
JS
Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
Hi again, Brucknerphile!

Have you restarted your computer since enabling the "online-only files on Mac" setting?

Also, if the issue persists after the restart, can you right-click on a folder, make it "available offline" and then switch it again to "online-only", to see if that makes a difference?
Brucknerphile
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago
Hi, Hannah,

Again, thank you for your help with this.

I have rebooted several times since changing the toggle to "online only Mac files," with no effect. As you instructed, I downloaded a few folders ("make available offline") and then changed them to online only. I'm afraid there was no difference, and I continued to check Finder space, etc., to see if anything was happening.

I'm happy to try whatever else you think might be helpful. I appreciate any help you can provide.

JS
Brucknerphile
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago
Hi, everyone. This is peculiar. I received an email informing me that someone had contributed to this conversation, but I see no new messages or responses? As it is the weekend, I didn’t expect any action until tomorrow. Have I missed something? Please get back. BTW, the problem from the original post persists. Many thanks.

JS
Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
Hey Brucknerphile, I hope you're doing well!

Can I send you an email, in order for us to have a closer look into this?
Brucknerphile
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago
Absolutely, and thank you! Do you have my email? -JS
Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago
Hey Brucknerphile!

I just sent you an email to your Community-linked email address.

I'll be more than happy to see you there, thanks!