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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.
1,036 Comments
+1 for .dropboxignore
No doubt Dropbox is a company which places importance on simplicity. However, if they're worried about adding complexity, I would recommend adding it as an undocumented feature. Maybe just a mention in a changelog somewhere. Then people all over the internet will write tutorials on how to do it - and the people who are looking for the feature (developers / advanced users) will have no trouble finding this information - not to mention go on to passionately share Dropbox with colleagues, friends and family.
I would love to see this implemented, and if so, I'll reconsider coming back to Dropbox.
But like others have hinted at, I too gave up. Syncing node_modules was killing me and my computer. Instead, I decided to go with rsync.net and I wrote my own Node CLI (https://github.com/manovotny/node-backup) to run or create rsync scripts, which includes the ability to ignore files and folders. Hooked up the the Mac's built-in cron, it's serving my quite nicely as an alternative.
I've given up at this point, I don't think dropbox really cares about their previously core product. Now they're much more interested in adding features like image hosting, and office integration, while their original sync tech gets no attention and feature requests like this are ignored. I let my linked credit card expire and won't be renewing when my current membership runs out. Pretty disappointing since I've been a paying customer for years now.
Considering this would save them space & bandwidth costs, you'd think this feature would warrant a response from dropbox.
+1, would make my life so much easier.
Thinking of writing together something on my own if I can't find a decent replacement soon. Also a pretty significant annoyance to have my file history spammed by all kinds of files only needed on the current machine. File indexing takes a long time nowadays as well, perhaps that'd be speeded up by a .dropboxignore, or not. But none the less it's a feature I'd expect to exist, since it doesn't seem to add too much complexity and add significant value (and an edge over competitors) to the service.+1000 !
+10000000000000000000000000000000000000
PLEASE!!!
this would save so much time and improve your app performances so much!please
