Getting notifications about online-only files, with Google Drive/OneDrive active

Yes, if I pause Google Drive, the pings stop.  Then when I resume Google Drive, they start again.  But it is Dropbox that is sending the notifications, not Google Drive.  And this worked fine for years - literally - so what has changed?

And why is Dropbox telling me that "these" files are only online, but not listing any files?  Something is wrong, and disabling Google Drive syncing of my Dropbox files is not the solution.

No.  I don't move files between any of the cloud apps.  I just let Dropbox do it's thing with the files in the Dropbox folder, and Google Drive simply backs up my documents, photos, videos, music, and Dropbox folders.

I have the same situation as Bill_Richards:  Windows, Google Drive and Dropbox syncing the same folder, never had an issue until this week when I started getting these annoying Dropbox alerts, pausing Google Drive sync stopped the Dropbox alerts, resuming Google Drive brought back the Dropbox alerts, etc.

But I think I found a solution!  I deleted the .tmp.driveupload folder and the alerts stopped (at least for now).   This seems to be a folder that Google Drive was creating and it seemed to have a bunch of empty files called "placeholder" with various file extensions, but no actual content.  I think Dropbox was getting confused by it.  Why that folder suddenly showed up this week I'm not sure.  Maybe some kind of failed Google Drive update?

Gah.  Ignore my "solution" from the prior post.  A few minutes after deleting .tmp.driveupload, it reappeared and the Dropbox alerts came back.  It definitely seems to be a problem with this folder (I think Dropbox is trying to sync it and thinks that the contents are "online-only").

I really, really want to be able to have my Dropbox folder synced with both Dropbox and Google Drive and this has worked perfectly fine until this week. It would be great to know if this was some kind of update at Dropbox or Google that suddenly started creating the problem.

I have the identical issue as mentioned above that started a few days ago.  I also have my Dropbox folder synced by Google Drive.  It's incredibly annoying to the point I'm about to scrap Dropbox if this isn't rectified very soon.  I can't work with these messages popping up every 5 to 8 seconds.  Please fix your software so that it works nicely with other sync programs...

Network as in wifi? I'm not sure what guest network and main network they are referring to but I switched wifi to the one that was connected directly router and it didn't work.

It's still happening on other connections.

Yes please.

I also started experiencing this issue earlier this week. Like everyone (and also reported here), I have my Dropbox folder backed up and synced via another cloud storage provider (in my case, Google Drive) and it has never been an issue until earlier this week. The problem seems to be the “placeholder” files located in Dropbox folder > .dropbox.cache (hidden folder) > qeb...bof. When Drive queues up the files to be uploaded, they never upload and continuously cause the Windows notification. I don’t know if this folder and files are new or if they have always been there, as I’ve deleted them multiple times in my attempts to find a fix, and can no longer see the creation date of the original folder.

I have, and have had for years, all my files set to be offline for both providers. The .dropbox.cache folder cannot be set to be offline via the right-click menu, nor the Selective Sync option in the Preferences. If it is in fact online only, the other few files in the folder do not cause any issues. I'm pretty confident there is an issue with the "placeholder" files.

With both Drive and Dropbox not running:

• Starting only Dropbox will create the files and the folder if they do not already exist. The files will have gray “X” unsynced icons and moving the files to another location (e.g. a new desktop folder) will retain gray “X” and will cause the Windows notification (just once). Moving them back into the folder will cause the notification (just once?). Quitting Dropbox will remove the files if they are in the folder, but keep the folder. If they are moved out of the folder first and then Dropbox is quit, trying to move the files back into the folder will cause a Windows error as if the files don’t exist. Drive will also report an error if you try to drop the files into the Drive website interface.
• Starting only Drive causes no issues, as the files don’t exist to be queued up.
• Starting both in either order causes the issue we are all experiencing.

Temporary solution:

1. With Dropbox running, COPY the "placeholder" files to another location.
2. Quit Dropbox to have the files auto removed. Copy or move the previously copied files to the “qeb...bof” folder.
3. Quit Drive to clear the queued troublesome files. Even if the copied files have been synced and uploaded, it's the queued files that will cause the Windows notification.
4. Start Drive first to let the files sync if necessary. After they've synced, start Dropbox.
5. This is only temporary. When quitting Dropbox, the files, even though they are copies and not the originals, will once again be removed. When Dropbox restarts, the troublesome files will be repopulated. I do not know how this is handled on shutdown/restart, but I imagine the issue will persist.

Please fix!

Alright so like most people here I'm having the same problem, which is also very likely caused by a conflict between OneDrive and Dropbox syncing the same path.

I'm not sure how dropbox will attempt to fix the behaviour of its product in a way dependent on the behaviour of a competitor's product, especially since the latter can change in a way that breaks dropbox's future fix, but I suppose that's Dropbox's problem to figure out.

Anyway, in the meantime, here's a simple workaround that stopped the incessant notifications for me.
1) Create a folder inside the dropbox folder path.

2) Move all content of the dropbox folder (minus the dropbox operational files/folders e.g the cache folder etc) into step (1)'s created folder.

3) Update OneDrive to sync step (1)'s created folder instead of the dropbox folder itself.

And that's it.

The conflict between the two clients seem to be with each other's operational hidden files/folders, so following the mentioned steps effectively moves those of OneDrive down to step (1)'s folder while those of Dropbox remain at the Dropbox root folder.

I initially tried just having each client "ignore" during its respective syncing the other client's operational hidden files/folders, but OneDrive doesn't have such an option (Dropbox does though).

Note that if someone has software/automations that accesses any files currently in the dropbox folder, they'll need to update these software/automations to find the files at their new paths after following the steps.

aDreamboxer - thanks for posting this.  Unfortunately for me, that's not an option as some of the folder in my Dropbox are owned by other Dropbox users.

dbox_ - we need a fix for this!

This temporary solution is just that - temporary.  I followed the steps a couple days ago and was pleased when the incessant pings stopped, but even though I've changed nothing in my Dropbox folder since then, the unwanted notifications suddenly started again this afternoon.

dbox_ - we need a fix!

Regardless of whether or not another cloud service is backing up the same files, there is still an issue. I posted it in my detailed post, but I'll reiterate: The Dropbox placeholder files will have a gray “X” unsynced icon. These icons NEVER go away. That means the placeholder files NEVER sync via Dropbox, regardless of the other service.

Please consider and answer all of these questions: What is it about the placeholder files that is causing the issue? What is their purpose and are they necessary? Are they new? If not, did their behavior change recently? Why don't they ever actually sync? Are they even meant to sync? If not, why does the unsyced icon imply that they are meant to sync? Do they need to sync? If not, why can't you remove their meant-to-be-synced status? Why don't they sync or try to sync when copied via my method, yet their presence causes no issue? Are they actually online-only, as the Windows notification indicates? Why do other online-only files work as intended, with no sync/notification issues?

I think the root issue is the fact that the placeholder files are set to sync, but never do so via Dropbox. If you can address and fix that issue, it'll likely resolve our issue. My temp fix of copying them allows them to exist there and sync to the OTHER provider, however, they are not marked for, nor do they sync via Dropbox. I've also discovered that deleting them altogether is another temp fix, but don't know if that'll cause issues elsewhere.

dbox_ - Please address this issue!  I'm ready to uninstall Dropbox forever.

Yeah, this is a bit ridiculous. We've pinpointed the issue, yet we can't get an update or fix...? Again, this was not an issue a couple of months ago. Staff member Megan acknowledges that the reason for the start of the behavior is unknown. Well, now we know the likely reason.

At the least, could you please stop Dropbox from deleting the placeholder files when quitting Dropbox? With my temp solution, it would hopefully become a permanent solution. If you cannot prevent Dropbox from deleting the placeholder files, why?