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Forum Discussion
albinotoni
3 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Syncing even when the app is off
My dropbox is syncing on two different macs when the app is off. On the DB-preferences I have checked out starting the app on startup and dropbox is also not on the list of apps which are started whe...
- 3 years ago
Thank you for your patience. We are aware of this change that was introduced as part of Apple’s File Provider update. Dropbox will continue to sync even when the app is shut off. If you do not want the sync to continue in the background, you can select 'pause sync'.
We are currently working on a solution which is planned for release in Q3 this year. However, please note that this is a preliminary date and is subject to change.
Thank you.
Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
3 years agoHi albinotoni, interesting finds you have there.
Could you possibly send me a couple of screenshots of this (the icons in your Dropbox folder while the app is not running & the app's syncing status), in order for me to have a clear visual too?
albinotoni
3 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Hi. Here is a screenshot of one folder after the restart (dropbox app is not on). System monitor shows couple of processes related to dropbox, and I guess these should be on. In the folder, there is a text file called dbtest230321 which I just made. It synced almost immediately to cloud and I can open it on my cellphone. As you can see, the icons after the filenames also show that the files are online.
I didn't quite understand, how should I take a screenshot of the app's syncing status while it is not on?
- fssbob3 years agoCollaborator | Level 10
I've noticed that with the new Mac version, syncing takes place regardless of whether the Dropbox app is running or not. Given that, what functionality is added or taken away by running or not running the Dropbox app?
- Rich3 years ago
Super User II
fssbob wrote:
I've noticed that with the new Mac version, syncing takes place regardless of whether the Dropbox app is running or not. Given that, what functionality is added or taken away by running or not running the Dropbox app?
Dropbox can't sync if the application isn't running. Are you sure it's not just running in the background? I'm, not a Mac user, so I'm not familiar with any differences that may exist between Dropbox on Windows vs. a Mac, but I know that it can't sync if Dropbox isn't running.
- fssbob3 years agoCollaborator | Level 10
That used to be the case, but with the new version the syncing is at least partially delegated to the Mac File Provider API, which continues to run regardless of whether the Dropbox application is. I just watched as a Mac with Dropbox installed fully synced incoming changes with the Dropbox application disabled.
- Emmet3 years ago
Community Manager
Hi fssbob ,
We’d like to check what’s going on here, would you mind if we reached out to the email associated with your community profile to look into this further?
Thank you!
Emmet
- fssbob3 years agoCollaborator | Level 10
Sure, but I'm surprised you're having to reach out to me about it. I've observed it on three different, unrelated machines, one running Monterey and the other two running Ventura. It appears to be a "feature", and I can't believe you're not seeing it on any of your test setups.
- albinotoni3 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Any ideas about this?
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