Dear all, I have been banging my head against the wall with this one... Some of my files do not sync to my Ubuntu computer if I create them in my Mac computer -other do without any problem- but all files I create in my Ubuntu show up in my Mac computer. I have the global settings on synchronize all files and folders in both computers. I have cleaned both dropbox caches, I have stopped and restarted dropbox in both computers. They all show up in the dropbox site so they are all being synchronized to the dropbox servers. It's just the direction from Mac to Ubuntu that sometimes works and sometimes not! Any ideas? Thoughts? Thanks in advance for any help you might provide, Bruno

BrunoJ wrote:...Hopeful this trend and your work will help the dropbox developers with fixing this issue?...🙂🤔 Hm.. Good wish, but better don't rely on. My experience shows - if the application doesn't stop completely and some part of the UI doesn't become too 'ugly', Dropbox development doesn't take care. 🤷 Linux is NOT first class citizen here, so everybody should save himself, unfortunately.My script is definitely not a final solution; it's rather workaround using 'brute force' file fixing (cosa there's not know what exactly force wrong behavior). Nowhere can be seen any documentation describing the possible file attributes leading to such thing. That's why, in my script, I'm clearing all files attributes (accessible or not - in fact files regeneration). BrunoJ wrote:..., but it seems to be me (a basic user) it feels too much of a hassle to do all that for I service that I pay a considerable amount of money per year. ...Fully agree that once a user's paying (and not only), the service should be the same everywhere (on every supported platform). 😡 Unfortunately, it's not and, as I said, everybody is looking for solution outside Dropbox (or directly another service - there are competitors). BrunoJ wrote:... Frankly, if the problem was much bigger than just a few photoshop files ...Especially for you I made some changes in above script and I'm posting it here:#!/usr/bin/bash ############################################################################## # Workaround for Dropbox broken sync # ---------------------------------- # Verified on Dropbox v159.4.5870 # Just make it executable (if need, using # $ chmod a+x dropbox_syncfix # ) and run it. # Author: Здравко # www.dropboxforum.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/422790 ############################################################################## # General command line check. if [ $# -eq 0 ] then echo "Command line should be 'dropbox_syncfix <access token> [<folder>]'." echo "The access token seems missing!" echo "You can get it here:" echo "https://dropbox.github.io/dropbox-api-v2-explorer/#check_user" exit 1 fi if [ $# -gt 2 ] then echo "Command line should be 'dropbox_syncfix <access token> [<folder>]'." echo "Unexpected number of arguments passed!" exit 1 fi ############################################################################## # Access token validity confirmation. randstr=$( tmpbase='0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ' for ((i=0; i<16; ++i)); do echo -n "${tmpbase:RANDOM%${#tmpbase}:1}"; done ) res=`curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/check/user \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $1" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -d "{\"query\":\"$randstr\"}" 2> /dev/null | jq -r .result` if [[ $res != $randstr ]] then echo "👆 The first argument ($1) is NOT valid access token!" exit 1 fi access_token="$1" ############################################################################## # Figuring out local Dropbox folder location. dbx_dir=`jq -r .personal.path ~/.dropbox/info.json` if [ $? -ne 0 ] then echo "Cannot detect Dropbox application installed and worked local." exit 1 fi if [ ! -d "$dbx_dir" ] then echo "Incorrect Dropbox folder path ($dbx_dir)!" echo "Only individual Dropbox account is supported." exit 1 fi ############################################################################## # Dealing with start folder path. # Setting default path - the account root (empty string). start_folder='' # Checking for explicit start folder path. if [ $# -eq 2 ] then if [ ! -d "$2" ] then echo "😯 The second argument ($2) does NOT point a folder." exit 1 fi start_folder=`realpath "$2"` if [[ "${start_folder:0:${#dbx_dir}}" != "$dbx_dir" ]] then echo -n "🤦 The pinted folder ($2) does NOT reside within your Dropbox " echo "folder ($dbx_dir)." exit 1 fi start_folder="${start_folder:${#dbx_dir}}" fi ############################################################################## # Single file sunc. # $1 - relative file path in your account sync_to_local() { local path="$dbx_dir$1" echo "Processing file: '$path'..." local error=`curl -o /tmp/dropbox_tmp.file -D /tmp/dropbox_tmp.dump \ -X POST https://content.dropboxapi.com/2/files/download \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $access_token" \ -H "Dropbox-API-Arg: {\"path\":\"$1\"}" 2> /dev/null` if [ $? -ne 0 ] then echo "👺 Trouble fetching '$1' from Dropbox" return fi local file_date=`grep 'Dropbox-Api-Result' /tmp/dropbox_tmp.dump | \ sed 's/^Dropbox-Api-Result *\: *//' | jq -r .client_modified` if [[ "$file_date" == "null" ]] then echo "👹 Download '$1' error: $error" return fi touch -d "$file_date" /tmp/dropbox_tmp.file local res=`curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/delete_v2 \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $access_token" \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d "{\"path\":\"$1\"}" 2> /dev/null` if [[ `echo "$res" | jq -r '.metadata[".tag"]'` != "file" ]] then echo "🤷 Cannot remove '$1', error: $res" return fi sleep 1 while [[ `curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/get_metadata \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $access_token" \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d "{\"path\":\"$1\"}" 2> /dev/null \ | jq .error_summary` == "null" ]] do sleep 1 done mv -u /tmp/dropbox_tmp.file "$path" echo "'$path' processed." } ############################################################################## # Processing single enumeration step. # $1 - current listing result # $2 - current folder relative path enumerate_files() { local oldIFS="$IFS" IFS=$'\n' for path in `jq -r '.entries[] | select(.[".tag"] == "file").name' <<< "$1"` do if [ ! -f "$dbx_dir$2/$path" ] then sync_to_local "$2/$path" fi done for path in `jq -r '.entries[] | select(.[".tag"] == "folder").name' <<< "$1"` do parse_folder "$2/$path" done IFS="$oldIFS" } ############################################################################## # Processing single folder (indirect recursion). # $1 - relative folder path parse_folder() { local res=`curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/list_folder \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $access_token" \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -d "{\"path\":\"$1\",\"include_non_downloadable_files\":false}" 2> /dev/null` echo "$1" enumerate_files "$res" "$1" while [[ `jq .has_more <<< "$res"` == "true" ]] do res=`curl -X POST https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/files/list_folder/continue \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $access_token" \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -d "{\"cursor\":$(jq .cursor <<< "$res")}" 2> /dev/null` echo "$1" enumerate_files "$res" "$1" done } ############################################################################## # Starting enumeration with the start folder. parse_folder "$start_folder" ############################################################################## # Wiping the 'dust'. rm -f /tmp/dropbox_tmp.file /tmp/dropbox_tmp.dump echo echo "Complete! 😉" echo The primary change (addition in fact) is the ability to provide folder path in your Dropbox folder. So if your troublesome files are located on limited part of the account folders tree and you know exactly where, providing path (second argument) can speed up script significant. The time needed can be just few minutes or, on very few files, less than a minute. 😉 Now you can use a call like:./dropbox_syncfix PUT_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE "Dropbox/path/to/the/troubles"Everything else is like on my previous post above. PS: I may have forgotten to mention - in the script is used 'jq' tool (able handle JSON format used by Dropbox). The tool is relatively specific and that's why usually it's not preinstalled. You may need to install it explicitly, using your preferable package manager or using following command on Ubuntu (and compatible; other distributions have equivalent commands):sudo apt-get install jq

BrunoJ wrote: Some of my files do not sync to my Ubuntu computer if I create them in my Mac computer ... Problem with the file names? https://help.dropbox.com/organize/file-names

Thank you Rich! It is not the file names but I have narrowed it down to being a problem of files created by Photoshop! It's strange, it only happens with those files. For the moment I have found a workaround solutions -albeit very time-consuming. I download the file I want to use in my Linux computer from the dropbox website to a different folder (just to avoid conflict versions) and then I can use it without any problem in the Linux computer. However, this is not a solution in the long run, I need to either stop using photoshop or stop using dropbox for my work...

Hey BrunoJ, happy Friday, I hope you're doing well! Interesting behavior you got going on there. Can I ask the version of the Dropbox app that's installed on both devices? All you have to do in order to find that, is to locate your Dropbox icon, next to your WiFi and hover your mouse there. We want to make sure that both of the versions are the latest stable ones. Also, what is the app's syncing status on both of them when this happens? Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there!

Hi Megan, Both versions are v159.4.5870 and all files sync to the server quickly. That is why I can download them after to my linux computer with my "go around" solution. If you have any idea of what could be causing this behavior with the photoshop files please let me know. Meanwhile, I've been meaning to switch to using Gimp as an alternative to Photoshop so I just found the perfect justification to get moving 🙂 Best regards,Bruno

Some files not syncing from Mac computer to Ubuntu but others do

20 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion

Rich
Super User II
3 years ago
BrunoJ wrote:

Some of my files do not sync to my Ubuntu computer if I create them in my Mac computer ...

Problem with the file names?

https://help.dropbox.com/organize/file-names
BrunoJ
Explorer | Level 3
3 years ago
Thank you Rich!

It is not the file names but I have narrowed it down to being a problem of files created by Photoshop! It's strange, it only happens with those files. For the moment I have found a workaround solutions -albeit very time-consuming. I download the file I want to use in my Linux computer from the dropbox website to a different folder (just to avoid conflict versions) and then I can use it without any problem in the Linux computer. However, this is not a solution in the long run, I need to either stop using photoshop or stop using dropbox for my work...
Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 years ago
Hey BrunoJ, happy Friday, I hope you're doing well!

Interesting behavior you got going on there. Can I ask the version of the Dropbox app that's installed on both devices? All you have to do in order to find that, is to locate your Dropbox icon, next to your WiFi and hover your mouse there.

We want to make sure that both of the versions are the latest stable ones. Also, what is the app's syncing status on both of them when this happens?

Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there!
BrunoJ
Explorer | Level 3
3 years ago
Hi Megan,

Both versions are v159.4.5870 and all files sync to the server quickly. That is why I can download them after to my linux computer with my "go around" solution.

If you have any idea of what could be causing this behavior with the photoshop files please let me know. Meanwhile, I've been meaning to switch to using Gimp as an alternative to Photoshop so I just found the perfect justification to get moving 🙂

Best regards,
Bruno
Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 years ago
Thanks for sharing your workaround with our Community, BrunoJ!

We'll actually leave the thread open, in case another user has some more info for you.

Let us know if you have any other questions.
FesT
Helpful | Level 7
3 years ago
Hey,
I have the same problem! I am trying to sync my entire Dropbox on a newly set up Linux (The Linux Dropbox client is running version 159.4.5870).
The sync works great, only some files (seems like .jpg .png .tiff .psd) probably saved with an older Photoshop version cannot be downloaded to the Linux machine. If there are too many of these files that are not "downloadable", Dropbox shows that it is syncing, but nothing happens anymore.
On the Mac everything works fine.
Unfortunately, BrunoJ workaround doesn't work for me, because I have about 2TB of files already on the Dropbox server and I can't open all files and save them again.
Any Idea how to solve that issue?
Здравко
Legendary | Level 20
3 years ago
Hi FesT,
Hm.. 🤔 That's something really strange. Can you share (shared link) some .png or .jpg that doesn't contain private info (or just some dummy picture) and definitely cannot (make it sure) sync? Available example might give some ideas... Let's hope.
FesT
Helpful | Level 7
3 years ago
Hi Здравко,
it's hard to say which images definitely don't sync, because it can always be that they are simply in the queue...
But with this files I am pretty sure:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bkxcwioxmm124r8/Skies0238_L.jpg?dl=0

And some additional information, this ist how it looks in Nautilus:
at the same time the terminal says syncing 3 files even there are 5 files to sync:

Would be great if you find a solution!
Здравко
Legendary | Level 20
3 years ago
Hi FesT,
Unfortunately I can't find solution, but can confirm that there is a 2 things. First one is that Dropbox application definitely behaves wrong. Like your findings I can see the same:
Another interesting thing is that downloading the folder "does not sync" and adding the downloaded to Dropbox, it syncs back successful:
The second thing (even more interesting) is both "does not sync" folders are binary identical (and not only). This means that there are undocumented properties (most probably) that affect application behavior.
Let's hope the moderators will forward this to development, so be solved the issue (and documented). But,... better don't rely too much.
I want to tag Greg-DB here; Is some API features/access point able to show up the differences in files/folder properties affecting this situation? I tried /2/files/list_folder for both "does not sync" folders showing the same, but the state is not actually the same (as can be seen)! 🤔🤷 Any thoughts? How can such a situation be detected/predicted? Thanks Greg!
Good luck, to all of us.
Greg-DB
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 years ago
Здравко Unfortunately I don't think the API has anything that would be useful for this. Anyone seeing an issue like this may want to contact support directly.