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Amy's avatar
Amy
Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
2 years ago

How to get started with Selective Sync

Welcome to the Dropbox Community forum! We're thrilled to have you on board, and we want to make sure you get the most out of your Dropbox experience right from the start. Today, we're going to talk about Selective Sync. 
 

What is Selective Sync? 

 
Well, selective sync is a feature in the Dropbox desktop app that allows you to remove specific Dropbox folders from your hard drive so you can save space on your computer. You can remove the Dropbox folders from your computer without deleting files; the folders you remove from your hard drive remain stored in your account on dropbox.com
 

How to use selective sync

 

Note: To use selective sync, you’ll need to have the Dropbox desktop app installed on your device.

To choose which Dropbox folders to store on or remove from your computer’s hard drive:

 

  1. Open your Dropbox desktop app preferences.
  2. Click the Dropbox icon in your taskbar.
  3. Click your avatar (profile picture or initials) in the top-right corner.
  4. Click Preferences.
  5. Click the Sync tab.
  6. Under Selective Sync (Windows), click Modify or Select folders to sync to this Mac (Mac), click Modify.
  7. Check the folders you’d like saved on your hard drive. Uncheck the folders you’d like removed.
  8. Click Update.

 

What is the difference between selective sync and online-only?

 

Making your files and folders online-only also helps save hard drive space. These files and folders will still be visible from your computer, but are stored in your Dropbox account online.

Based on how you use certain files and folders, they can automatically be set to online-only.

 
That's it! Now you can save valuable space for things that matter most to you, and learn how other Dropbox features can improve your day too!
 
So, what do you want to see from us? Let us know! 
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18 Replies

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  • GG325's avatar
    GG325
    Helpful | Level 6
    2 years ago

    Thanks so much. I appreciate your help. How easy that was😊

  • Здравко's avatar
    Здравко
    Legendary | Level 20
    2 years ago
    GG325 wrote:

    ...

    ...

    What does happen if you click on "Select  folders" button? 🤔 Does it match to the video? 🙂

  • GG325's avatar
    GG325
    Helpful | Level 6
    2 years ago

     Here's what I get when I click on "Select folders". There are no folders to select though. I guess that I need to add folders to my dropbox folder to sync them.

  • Здравко's avatar
    Здравко
    Legendary | Level 20
    2 years ago

    Yes, of course. Since your account is new one and there is no even one folder yet, that's why that panel is empty - there only folders appear.

    By the way everything syncs by default (including folders - they will appear selected). If you want to remove some, you can deselect them, so will be available only in you web browser and no any local space engaged (no even as placeholders only). Whenever/if needed, you may select them back.

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Thanks for the screenshots, GG325.

     

    The app looks good to me, but as noted, it seems like you don't have any folders in your Dropbox folder to unsync through selective sync.

     

    Other than that, everything looks normal to me and you're on the most recent version as well, so no need to worry at all!

  • GG325's avatar
    GG325
    Helpful | Level 6
    2 years ago

    Hannah  Thanks so much for your help and for your patience with me as a newbie. I really do appreciate it bunches.

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Happy to help, GG325!

     

    Give us a shout, if you need anything else.

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