Stable Build 228.4.5567

Rachel L.​  If it were possible to copy the new or updated files away from Dropbox, then you wouldn't have to worry about them.  Then you can rewind without losing anything.

From what you are saying, I think you'd need to rewind to before the update.  You could even try this out for a particular directory to see whether it works.  

The thing to remember is that the 'true' version of Dropbox is the cloud version.  You ought to be able to rewind to the time before conflicted folders.   So if it were me, I'd be trying to get that version into what I want.  And then download to the desktop.

I'm not sure how well rewinding would work, as I've added/updated files since then via mobile. :/

I'm also perplexed how some conflicted folders returned when all folders were deleted or invisible. There seems to be something buggy there.

I've generally found that rewinding works well.

Why can't you rewind your entire Dropbox to a week or so ago?  You'd do this on the web version of Dropbox.  Then quit the desktop app, delete the local files and then rebuild the local directory according to the rewound version of Dropbox.  

There's an old link remaining to one of my original subfolders (which I since marked as online only) which no longer shows in the Dropbox folder though it seems it should?--when I tell it to ignore folders it does say they won't show on the hard drive yet how am I supposed to manually make things available offline without un-ignoring a folder and downloading EVERYTHING in it...? You used to be able to see online-only folders on your hard drive even if you couldn't open the files.

Anyway when I click this link I get an error message now (trying to attach image to post, hold on):

This is unacceptable!

Response I just sent to my help ticket which instructed me to delete the conflicted folders and try anew. My art folder is gone??--not even in my Dropbox deleted files! AND some of my subfolders, including one I use every day, are completely gone even from the conflicted folder!

EDIT: *deep breath* All right...okay. I apologize. The "missing" folder is in fact a subfolder and is still there. Sigh. But the rest of the mess persists.

An update, I've deleted all the conflicted folders, emptied the recycle bin, and cleared the Dropbox cache. This appears to have finally made everything online only. Restarted Dropbox. Started to sync but then paused it to check the folders I told it to ignore. It had added some conflicted folders (which no longer exist) and they were set to be offline--I did NOT manually choose that, and I previously set new files to be online, so Dropbox is changing settings on its own. I deselected them all again and resumed the sync. It quickly went through the files, but now seems stuck on 4 small conflicted sync files in the Dropbox folder: print (Selective Sync Conflict).css, main (Selective Sync Conflict).css, feed-icon16x16 (Selective Sync Conflict).png, and counter (Selective Sync Conflict).js. These files are the only conflicted ones remaining in the Dropbox folder and showing in the status box. It says they're synced so maybe they're not the issue, but Dropbox is still stuck syncing something, I don't know what. It shows no data, file number, or time remaining estimate. Just says "syncing." These 4 files have no non-conflicted copy I can see, and I don't know what files/programs they might be connected to, so I'm reluctant to delete them. What is Dropbox still syncing?

Even more bothersome, all of my original file folders (Special Characters in HTML_files, TehutiArt, TehutiBackups, TehutiCreations, TehutiFiles, TehutiMisc) are gone or invisible. They don't show up in the Dropbox folder, even as online only. I wish to manually select which folders to make offline but I literally can't do that if they aren't there.

Crud...I also just noticed that Selective Sync Conflict folders are appearing again on my mobile devices yet not the laptop (yet). Even worse!--I just noticed that the original TehutiArt folder, which I use every day, is missing from my account entirely! There's only the conflicted copy!

I'm pausing the sync yet again. I followed the instructions but this is a hopeless mess. I look forward to clear instructions on how to disable the update and start afresh. I also hope to get my original folders back!

You will currently have a folder called 'Dropbox'.  I also had one called 'Dropbox old' or something similar which may have got created by the update.  But anyway, you need to get rid of the existing Dropbox folder so that the folder can be re-built from scratch.  Once you quit Dropbox you get a message saying it is safe to delete the folder.  So at that point you can delete it.  Then, when you log in again, the folder will be created from scratch.  You'll need to opt out of cloud files of course.

It got me back to where I was prior to the update.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for responding - can you please give instructions for how to "opt out of Cloud files" as the engineers have suggested to do?

FYI my Dropbox seems to be stable again now - but it was a very stressful few days while it did its thing to catch up with itself, and lost days of work that I can't charge for - and $$ for extra data - so my question is really about 1) what happened and 2) what steps will be taken to mitigate for future (e.g. can I be notified in advance of any potentially problematic "upgrades", or set to manual?)  Thanks a lot

I'm thinking that I want to just disable this update (sounds like Dropbox techs are even suggesting it now!) rather than try a fix yet end up sitting waiting for days again because this is considered normal behavior. I'll try to bring it up one more time in my help ticket I guess as I try the fix anyway.

I notice you mention this:

"Furthermore, to recreate Dropbox folders you have to delete the old Dropbox folder once you are sure that Dropbox isn't running.  Otherwise you end up with incorrectly named folders etc.  Before you delete any folders, double check that Dropbox isn't running!"

I'm uncertain what's meant by "the old Dropbox folder" which needs to be deleted, could you elaborate?

Hello, I had a "later" version 229.3.5074 that was causing very similar problems to the ones in this stream above ("offline" downloads folders I tell it to leave online, and leaves online many folders I tell it to bring "offline." And, in the App itself, under Preferences/Manage Hard Drive space, it still does not update/show all the folders it has brought off-line, just very few of them.) A dropbox Support guy asked me to replace that "beta" version with this "stable" version 228.4.5567. But this thread makes that advice seem incorrect. This is totally ridiculous, not having one firm/stable version that actually works the way it is supposed to, with incorrect guidance being given from support staff to Customers.