Tom_M's avatar
Tom_M
Helpful | Level 6
12 years ago
Status:
In Beta

Add .dropboxignore directory to exclude folders without using selective sync

Please please please can you add a feature that allows folders to be excluded from the Dropbox account (on windows and mac). For sure I'm not the first person to request this, but I'm yet to find a good explanation of why it's not there. A quick google search reveals loads of people also looking for the same feature. I really like the workflow I have with dropbox, but it's getting to the point where I might switch providers in order to allow better selective sync.

I've seen hackish solutions using selective sync, but it would be great if this could be done in one of the following ways:
- global pattern matching eg "node_modules"
- a marker file in the directory like .dropboxignore
- a simple right click context menu "Ignore this folder"

Other than that, keep up the good work. Cheers.
Tom

Idea Status Update

We're launching a closed beta for Ignore Files feature, and we’d love your help testing it out.

👉 Learn more and sign up here

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1,031 Comments

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  • Daphne's avatar
    Daphne
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    6 years ago

    Hey digiwombat!

    At the moment, I don't have any further info to share on this I'm afraid. If I do receive any further news, I'll make sure to update you all here.

    Thanks!

  • digiwombat's avatar
    digiwombat
    Helpful | Level 6
    6 years ago

    @Daphne Any word on when this is coming out of beta? Or is at least rolling out wide with an optional/experimental checkbox or something?

  • Daphne's avatar
    Daphne
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    7 years ago

    Hey borkdude!

    This isn't available to all users just yet since it's still in beta, as mentioned here.

    You can follow this thread to make sure you stay up to date with news on this.

    Cheers!

  • borkdude's avatar
    borkdude
    Helpful | Level 5
    7 years ago

    Daphne 

    I tried the following on Mac:

    xattr -w com.dropbox.ignored 1 target

    But nothing changed in Finder:

  • Daphne's avatar
    Daphne
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    7 years ago

    Thanks for getting back to us here sagarisms!

    This is a feature available with our paid subscriptions, and has been for quite a while now. :grin:

    I appreciate your feedback though and I've made a note of this.

    If you have any other questions or need assistance with anything else, I'd suggest starting a new discussion here.

    Have a great day - cheers!

  • sagarisms's avatar
    sagarisms
    Explorer | Level 3
    7 years ago

    Hi @Daphne, thank you. I will check it out.

    Having said that, it's odd that I don't know about this feature even though I am a Dropbox loyalist.

    It might help if new features/changes/updates are socialised through optional/consensual on-boarding. 

    🙏🏽