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hrahmani's avatar
hrahmani
Explorer | Level 4
3 years ago
Solved

Ignoring a directory does not work

Dear all,

 

I am trying to get dropbox to ignore a directory that we use to create ~200K small temporary files using the command given in this article:

 

https://help.dropbox.com/sync/ignored-files#:~:text=If%20you%20ignore%20a%20file,sync%20to%20your%20Dropbox%20account.

 

I am trying to run the command on our windows machine:

 

Edition Windows 11 Education
Version 22H2
Installed on ‎11/‎17/‎2022
OS build 22623.885
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22637.1000.0

 

but I get an error:

Set-Content -Path 'D:\Dropbox (Scripps Research)\Grotjahn Lab\Data\Krios_Data\JTL016A_3_TEM_230401\frames\matching\' -Stream com.dropbox.ignored -Value 1\
Set-Content : Could not open the alternate data stream 'com.dropbox.ignored' of the file 'D:\Dropbox (Scripps
Research)\Grotjahn Lab\Data\Krios_Data\JTL016A_3_TEM_230401\frames\matching\'.
At line:1 char:1
+ Set-Content -Path 'D:\Dropbox (Scripps Research)\Grotjahn Lab\Data\Kr ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Set-Content], FileNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.FileNotFoundException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SetContentCommand

 

Can anyone help me with this? Solving this issue can save us a large chunk of time and trouble since we won't have to pause and resume syncing anymore.

 

 

 

desktop
Error Messages
Setting up the apps
sync
Windows
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    3 years ago

    Currently, it isn't possible to bulk ignore folders, they'd need to be manually ignored as and when they exist in your Dropbox folder.

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  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    3 years ago

    Hi hrahmani, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

     

    Did you copy the command exactly, as you entered a backslash at the end of the command after 1.

     

    This will help me to assist further!

    • hrahmani's avatar
      hrahmani
      Explorer | Level 4
      3 years ago

      The backslash is a mistake in this message not in the command. Thank you for the quick response, after I posted it I started playing more with the PowerShell commands and this worked:

       

      cd [the parent directory]

      Set-Content ./subtomo:com.dropbox.ignored -value 1

       

      Now I can see the value when I use 

      Get-Content .\subtomo:com.dropbox.ignored

      and in the file explorer I see the gray minus sign on that directory.

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        3 years ago

        Thanks for the info. Does this mean you were able to successfully ignore the folder you needed?

  • Dragorion's avatar
    Dragorion
    Explorer | Level 4
    2 months ago

    I had this error for iconized folders and could work around it.

    My related reply* is buried under other replies, but it contains the answer for the case that your Set-Content command fails due to extra attributes that have to be removed before and added after the powershell command. You can use batch files for simplicity, like I did.

    * https://www.dropboxforum.com/discussions/101001013/the-ignore-folder-feature-is-not-working-/384678/replies/720835

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