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Migrated to new MacBook Air results in 11 unsynced files and slow MS Word.
A few weeks ago I migrated from an old Intel MacBook Air (machine no longer available) to an M3 MacBook Air using Migration Assistant. I am currently running Sonoma 14.5 and Dropbox 203.4.4857. I am ...
Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorHey markelp!
These entries are most likely from an older installation of Dropbox.
There's a chance that they might be outdated, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend that you remove them from your system, especially since they don't take up so much space.
Thank you, Megan. Please see below:
1) "Now as for the syncing files, let's try to sign out of the app and then back in to see if this changes things at all."
- After signing out and back in and letting the Dropbox app/services run for several day, it still reports three files not syncing. Looking at the Dropbox folder, there is one .xlsx file that still have the blue sync icon and two folders. Any additional recommendations to resolve these errors?
- Additionally, after this process I notice that Dropbox is asking for the macOS Admin password at each launch/reboot with the message: "Dropbox needs to change permissions for the Folder: /Users/xxxxx/Dropbox". Is this normal?
2) "As for Word: you can quit the Dropbox app, and then locate your Dropbox folder inside your Finder and open your files by double clicking on them."
- This seems to have solved the problem with Word slowing down when using a local .docx file that is synced with Dropbox. However, quitting and relaunching Dropbox each time I want to edit a Word document is frustrating. Is there a root cause/permanent solution that would allow me to edit in Word while Dropbox is still running?
3) "Also do you have any proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router settings that could be restricting traffic to the following Dropbox domains?"
- As mentioned above, there is no firewall configured on this Mac. I do not see ISP/router settings that could be blocking Dropbox. In fact, other computers on this ISP/router/network use Dropbox without problems.
- This machine does have "GlobalProtect 5.2.7-37" installed for some specific workflows with a company. However, it is not enabled when the above Dropbox issues appear. If you have some additional troubleshooting steps to determine if it is conflicting with Dropbox, it would be appreciated.
- Regarding the Dropbox domains list you provided above, a spot check via a browser shows that some resolve to a Dropbox site but others do not. This is consistent on multiple machines. I also attempted a ping a few in terminal:
PING dropbox.com (162.125.248.18): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 162.125.248.18: icmp_seq=0 ttl=54 time=5.898 ms
PING s3-us-west-1-w.amazonaws.com (52.219.220.121): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 52.219.220.121: icmp_seq=0 ttl=242 time=79.131 ms
ping: cannot resolve dropboxexperiment.com: Unknown host
ping: cannot resolve addtodropbox.com: Unknown host
ping: cannot resolve dropboxapi.com: Unknown host
If the above is not as expected, can you provide additional advice/methods to test if my system/network/router is "restricting traffic"?
Depending on the answer to #1 and #2 above, I am still leaning towards completely deleting Dropbox from this Mac (including all synced files/folders and supporting files in ~/Library). Then reinstall and let it sync from the Dropbox servers. Is there a KB article to walk me through this process to ensure I delete everything related to Dropbox and successfully reinstall/resync?
Thank you.
- Megan
Hey markelp!
Would you mind clarifying your app's current syncing status, please? If you could send me a screenshot of that, I'd definitely appreciate the visual.
You also mentioned that the app asks for your password each time. Have you made sure that the app has been installed with admin rights?
As for the little test we tried with Word, I'm assuming you didn't have any issues while Dropbox wasn't running right? In this case, we might need to have a closer look into this to see what might be causing it. Does this happen with all of your Word documents?
Lastly, I could guide you as to how you can uninstall Dropbox from your device. Once the process is done, you can go ahead and delete your local Dropbox folder. Once that's done you will simply go ahead and re-install the app and allow for your content to sync to your device.
1) Would you mind clarifying your app's current syncing status, please? If you could send me a screenshot of that, I'd definitely appreciate the visual.
I have attached screenshots of the drop down from the menubar icon showing "Syncing 3 files" (which has remained this way since I logged out and back in per the instructions above - it used to be "Syncing 11 files") and the Sync Issues screen showing "No issues".
2) You also mentioned that the app asks for your password each time. Have you made sure that the app has been installed with admin rights?
I installed it as I do all apps without anything special/different. I entered the admin password as requested during install and subsequent requests. There is only one user on the Mac. I assume it is installed with Admin privileges.
I have attached the screenshot of the dialog that is presented each time the Dropbox app is launched after reboot or quit. Note, this also triggers a re-sync of all files which takes about 15 minutes to scan through the 49,000 files and ends with the "Syncing 3 files" mentioned above.
3) As for the little test we tried with Word, I'm assuming you didn't have any issues while Dropbox wasn't running right? In this case, we might need to have a closer look into this to see what might be causing it. Does this happen with all of your Word documents?
It happens when editing a Word document that is also synced with Dropbox. It the slowdown seems to occur more often when "Track Changes" is on in Word, but I haven't tested it extensively. The issue does NOT occur when I quit the Dropbox app prior to opening the Word document.
4) Lastly, I could guide you as to how you can uninstall Dropbox from your device. Once the process is done, you can go ahead and delete your local Dropbox folder. Once that's done you will simply go ahead and re-install the app and allow for your content to sync to your device.
I have not done this yet. I'd rather understand and resolve the issues in #1-3 above before I attempt a delete/reinstall.
Thank you.
