Add .dropboxignore directory to exclude folders without using selective sync

The following idea have already been suggested in the post below :

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-ideas/Ignore-folder-without-selective-sync/idi-p/5926

However, it hasn't been implemented because the author suggested other solutions that doesn't solve my problem.

TL;DR : I would like to have a list of pattern that dropbox sync will ignore, no matter what.

Context : I like the idea of having my file backed up without even thinking about it using dropbox. However, during my work, I frequently create, edit and/or delete files/folders during automatic procedures and dropbox oftenly make these procedures fail by opening these files/folder in blocking mode.

Idea : Mimic the .gitignore method to add a list of pattern to exclude from sync anytime, so files/folders that are dynamically created doesn't get busy from dropbox sync procedure and some dropbox server & storage load could be saved this way (it's a win-win situation).

I'm aware dropbox already implement a static ignore list using selective sync or rightclick -> online, but  1. this doesn't solve the issue for dynamically generated files/folders ; 2. this is way to much a hassle when you have a lot of them/ add a new one ; 3. At my current knowledge, this doesn't work for files.

Christopher N.1, you recommend storing the files outside of the Dropbox folder; this is exactly what I want to do, but every time I attach an external drive or card reader to my pc, the files automatically synch to DB, so how do you pre-set a folder to not synch to DB?  It is sort of the reverse of synching, I want the files on PC, not the cloud.  Had a similar issue with OneDrive; 1Tb hard drive and 20gb OneDrive account.  When OneDrive was full (with files I didn't want there) I cleared some space and lost years of photos from my hard drive.  I'm terrified of it happening again, how do you protect files on (multiple) hard drives from the capricious whims of these cloud accounts?  I don't want or need to subscribe to an infinite amount of cloud storage, but sometimes it feels like these apps are just a legitimised form of ransomware; counter-intuitive and designed to put your data in peril unless you cough-up for the paid service.

IMO, just having a check box to sync/not sync would be great. I share folders with others, for awhile, and then don’t need to, but can’t Delete. Be nice to step out of the Sync loop.

I can't believe dropbox STILL hasn't implemented this in 7 years. Absolutely absurd. Symlinks are completely unnecessary for a service that millions of developers use. 

I hadn't opened the Dropbox app on my computer for about a week because I was using a limited hotspot while traveling. I come back and being the syncing process on my home network and it's trying to upload 300k+ files (nearly 3GB of primarily node modules), and it's estimated time is 5+ hours ??? Are you kidding me?

How is this not implemented yet? Do the Dropbox guys even read these suggestions?

Can't wait for this to work like others are asking for. A simple ignores file to prevent dropbox from ever touching files in these folders. 

Goodsync seemed to work, but it is incredibly slow if you have many files and use either Dropbox or OneDrive as a cloud drive. It might be fast with their own cloud solution.

pCloud seems to be fast and it is very easy to exclude folders. Under Sync -> Advanced, just add the folder name, eg node_modules, and it will skip the folder. 

Another product that has implemented a .syncignore file is KOOFR. it seems to be working quite well and is just what Dropbox should have implemented https://koofr.eu/blog/posts/advanced-ways-to-exclude-files-from-sync

Koofr has some REALLY good lifetime deals at the moment, https://stacksocial.com/sales/koofr-cloud-storage-plans-lifetime-subscription-1tb?aid=a-9elzb748

Hi all,

I've recently implemented the dropboxignore which is a simple shell script that ignores files using file patterns. .dropboxignore  files can be generated based on existing .gitignore files and the matched files will be ignored from dropbox. The shell scipt provides various functionalities in order to ignore files or revert ignored files through a simple CLI. Hope to find it usefull. Any feedback is welcome.

NOTE: dropboxignore is currently available only for Linux and MacOS.

+1

Ah yes, and in case any Dropbox people are reading here:

You can't even ignore a folder while syncing is paused. So I can't even run my code with paused syncing and then ignore, but have to either

- create empty root folders and sync those first before ignoring and then populating them. And don't forget to sync-pause all other devices in order to avoid conflicts with their own ignored "node_modules" folder.

- if they are automatically deleted and scripted, I have to
  - pause all other devices
  - run my code
  - wait for Dropbox to sync the 40K files to the cloud
  - then mark the folder as ignored
  - wait for the files to be deleted from the cloud
  - re-enabling syncing for all other devices
  - smile peacefully about that great solution ;)