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Forum Discussion
Download files from dropbox to laptop as Cloud ONLY
We have dropbox professional- use it on two desktops- Our laptop got maxed out-1.7TB in the dropbox on our laptop- So we disconnected from dropbox on the laptop and deleted the 1.6TB of data-- Obviou...
Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorHi Robert C.91, thank you so much for all the details!
So, based on your unique situation, here is what I am going to suggest. You're currently using selective sync and this is why your Dropbox folder is empty.
You could sync back one folder at a time locally to the device, and once the folder is up-to-date and fully synced, you can then change it and make it offline-only. How does that sound?
However, you mentioned, that you can't use the app's preferences in order to sync folders back, can you let me know more about this?
What do you see when you try to navigate there?
The one folder we asked to selective sync from the orginal app setup- has now shown up in our Laptop Dropbox folder and it has a cloud icon next to it.
I can work on documents in that folder and those changes made show up on our desktops. Hurrah
When I right click on Dropbox Icon- we have option to " Request files" or "View in Dropbox.com" or "make available offline".
The Request files seems to be for requesting files from other sources ( not the files in our dropbox.com account"
View in Dropbox.com - takes us there- but there is no prompt to synce to Laptop-
Make Available offline does nothing but that perhaps is because the folder we have in laptop already has a cloud icon.
That folder in our laptop is 57mb in size- but the properties say size on disk is 0-- I assume this is what working on line only would look like. And there is not actually 57mb of space being used on the laptop.
I have not found the app's preferences in order to sync folders back.
I guess I understand your suggestion that we, over the next couple of days, sync a file from Dropbox.com to our laptop, and once it is there, find the option to make it on line only.
Great idea, it would take quite a while to do, but it is not an option to sync files from dropbox.com back to the laptop. When in dropbox.com the is a prompt to upload files ( I assume from our laptop) but not to download files and then sync them or make on line only.
Very frustrating, it seems like it sould be simple but there are no choices for PREFERENCES or Sync when in Dropbox.com or on our laptop.
We have used dropbox for years, LOVE DROPBOX the way it works between our two desktops, and loved it when the full files were on the laptop, but they got too big to keep on the laptop. Before we uninstalled dropbox on the laptop, I tryed right clicking on a folder and I had the option to make ON LINE ONLY, but then it locked up saying there was not enought space to perform the operation. That is why we uninstalled dropbox and deleted the files on the laptop.
So here he are now. Dropbox app is on laptop, and we did not choose to sync all the files when the app prompted us because the files would have been too much.
It seems like we will have to download each folder to laptop and then right click to make it on line only, HOWEVER we are not seeing how we can bring the files from Dropbox.com to the laptop.
I sure do wish this was as simple as your orginal responce indicated but we never got the prompts you assumed we would see.
Thanks for your continued help.
Robert
- Jay
Hi Robert C.91, in order to understand what prompts you're seeing when you right click the folders on your machine, could you attach a screenshot showing this, as there should be more options available?
- Megan
Hi Robert C.91, let me explain more.
So, in regards to the app's preferences, these can be found only in the app, not online. In this case, you need to locate your little Dropbox icon (the one shown next to your battery icon, on your task bar), and click there. You should see a little pop-up window.
If you click on your avatar, or initials (top right part) you should be able to see the app's preferences, and from there you would navigate to your Sync tab and there you'd see your selective sync folders.
Another thing to note, is that when I said you'd need to sync folders back to the device, I didn't mean to download them from the website, into your Dropbox folder. I meant reversing the selective sync settings, in order to sync one-by-one folder, and then making them online-only.
If you check a folder, that folder and the files and folders inside it are saved to your hard drive. If you uncheck a folder, that folder and the files and folders inside it are removed from your hard drive, and are only stored on dropbox.com.
Keep in mind, that based on the screenshots you provided, I can see that some of the folders that you already have in your Dropbox folder, seem to be online-only (cloud icon).
In order to change the way these files/folders are synced to the device (available offline or online-only) you need to click not on the Dropbox folder but on the individual folder itself. Can you give it a go?
Well it sure is easy to do when you know where to look.
Once I realized the dropbox icon I was supposed to use was the one NEXT TO THE BATTERY -- it all went as you said it would.
We now have all the files synced to dropbox on our laptop, and it works EXACTLY as we hoped it would.
Many thanks for your patience. I felt like I was banging my head against the wall clicking on the Dropbox icon on the Dropbox folder and not the one next to the battery icon on the taskbar.
This dropbox forum is wonderfull. Again many thanks.
- Megan
Don't event mention it Robert C.91! 😊
I'm glad everything is working as it should, and if you need anything just know that we'll be one post away!
