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Tom_M's avatar
Tom_M
Helpful | Level 6
11 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

desktop
sync

1,031 Comments

  • Amy's avatar
    Amy
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    5 months ago

    Hi michaelxp​ - you might have seen the update already, but the team are working on this at the moment and are looking for people to test it, so if you are interested in joining the beta you can apply here. 

  • Amy's avatar
    Amy
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    5 months ago

    Hi GKTheOne​ - you might have seen that the team are looking for beta testers for a new ignore files feature. If you are interested in joining the beta you can apply here. 

  • Amy's avatar
    Amy
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    5 months ago

    Hi zeeh1975​ - not sure if you saw the update, but the team are working on testing this feature now, if you are interested in joining the beta you can apply here. 

  • DelugeIA's avatar
    DelugeIA
    Explorer | Level 4
    5 months ago

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!1

    I canceled my 10-year-running DropBox subscription last year because of how this feature was never addressed.

    GLHF 🙃

  • Emmet's avatar
    Emmet
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    5 months ago
    Status changed:
    Under Consideration
    to
    In Beta
  • vladgasan's avatar
    vladgasan
    Icon for Dropbox Product Manager rankDropbox Product Manager
    5 months ago

    Hi everyone - exciting news! 🎉

    We're launching a closed beta for Ignore Files feature, which lets you keep specific files or folders on your device without syncing them to dropbox.com. You can list exclusion rules in a special text file called rules.dropboxignore placed in your Dropbox root folder. 

    This has been one of the most requested ideas on the forum, and we’d love your help testing it out.

    👉 Learn more and sign up here: [Ignore Files Beta Test Announcement]

  • Chris B.82's avatar
    Chris B.82
    New member | Level 2
    9 months ago

    How did you set up the triggers to run and alter DB behaviors?