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Forum Discussion
Solved
Smart Sync and Quick Preview on Mac
Smart Sync causes my quick preview function (spacebar) to not function properly on my Mac. I can't preview thumbnails, or quick preview any videos or photos. Any ideas why this happens?
Likely because you're trying to preview a file that doesn't exist on your computer.
When you set a file to Online Only, the only thing that's left of that file on your computer is the necessary information to make it appear in the folder. Since there's no content in the file, your OS (nor any other program) is able to preview it.
Remember, when you set a file to Online Only, the file is removed from the computer leaving behind only a marker file. In order to access that file, whether it be to open and edit it or simply preview it, the file needs to be on the computer (Smart Sync doesn't allow you to open files directly from the Dropbox servers). When you open a file, it's synced back to your local drive and then opened as normal. When you're done with the file, if you want it to be online-only again, you need to mark it as such.
I have emailed support back. When will this be fixed
Hi everyone. I recieved an email from Dropbox support after emailing back and forth for a few days. I had to press them for a straight answer, after continued vague answers.
In the end, it seems they are well aware of the issue, but haven't found a good solution yet. I'm assuming there are lots of pieces involved, including with MacOS.
It doesn't upset me so much that Dropbox has a bug. What is frustrating is that they don't come out and say it directly on this forum so that we don't have to waste our time emailing and explaining something that they already know about.
If you want to email with Dropbox support to help them resolve this issue, by all means do so. But there shouldn't be any need for extensive explanations and screensharing.
