Add .dropboxignore directory to exclude folders without using selective sync

And it's not that I want to save a lot of Dropbox space - this is negligible - but Dropbox app indexing new `node_modules` folder eats up 100% CPU for minutes-hours so not User-friendly at the moment.

Agreed pawelt, we have at least 4x threads just like this, that has been open for years, most advocating for a .dropboxignore option.

Since from a developer point of view this would be relatively easy, and hence the outcry at Emma sighting the ephemeral command line option of ignoring files are the way to go, and the solution to all our problems. Which it is not.

Currently it makes Dropbox useless for most any developer, and many have resorted to other options. Some of us have given up hope, but are still stalking in the hope of someone from Dropbox championing our cause.  

Emma 

Oh my goodness.... You have 100's of comments spanning almost 8 years and you are unclear of the requirements? But, anyway, let me take a stab at it.

As reference, please consult other current implementations for example as implemented in Git: https://git-scm.com/docs/gitignore

The requirement that we are asking for, in a nutshell, is to provide us the ability to create an ignore file which include all files/folders/patterns for the dropbox client running on a device to to ignore (not sync). This is much more portable and familiar that the other method that was originally presented as the solution.

From this, I am sure the gap should be fairly obvious. For developers, devops engineers, Infrastructure engineers, SRE's and anyone else in a SDLC, it should be - and I am going to assume it is. If the team at dropbox cannot discern the differences/gap then you have far bigger problems to deal with. Let me know, and I am happy to then give you a detailed analysis and spec - but for a reasonable fee, as I will have to spend some time on such a project.

I would add to that, that current solution needs folder to exist. But in the case of some folders being created automatically (like `node_modules`) I want to exclude those no matter where they are in my Dropbox tree or if they exist at the moment. I imagine having `.dropboxignore` file like:

```

node_modules

```

as a good solution building atop of .gitignore already working like this 🙂

Thanks for backtracking and listening to the users.

1. The current solution is complicated.

2. It is not cross-platform.

3. It's not persistent. Is the folder recreated you have to set up the ignore again.

4. If another, not supported computer creates the folder it is synchronized which leads to unpredictable results.

Emma Thanks. About "gap": please read comments before, this gap is already highlighted. Just pass information to dev team. Every developer knows what we talk about. I can write all the requirements we have, but the thing is they are already written in this thread. Please pass idea to dev team lead for discussion and you'll get direct answer what we want.

Hi folks, 

Thanks for your feedback on this.
While ignored files delivers for some of the use cases here, I appreciate it does not for all. 
We'll be taking another review of this thread to isolate use cases for a .dropboxignore file feature in particular.

I've updated the status and we'll take this to the product team.
As a side note, it would be helpful for us if you could outline the gap between what ignored files offers, and what a .dropboxignore file feature would add to your workflows.

Thank you.

Once upon a time, the Dropbox founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi built dropbox to serve their needs. As I recall, 2007-2011 many venture capital folks turned them down because there were "too many file sharing tools out there", from FTP to web-based portals. Drew and Arash insisted none did what they needed and persevered with a great vision. They were right, the VC’s were wrong, and Dropbox became the #1 company in the space — a product I personally love and pay for. Unfortunately, serving investors has become more important than Drew and Arash's mission — providing right-and-true value needed by end-users. A sad situation in this particular case as it’s washed away and hidden behind "delivered".

At least unmark this as "Delivered" as it feels legitimately insulting that after years of complaints that the mentioned solution was not sufficient, Megan read exactly none of those comments and marked it as "Delivered".

Devs over at MEGA are about to implement this: https://github.com/meganz/MEGAsync/issues/206#issuecomment-1143136772

Just saying, cya Dropbox 🙂