How to I effectively and ultimately unsync a folder

[peter05]

Hi,

I accidentally sync a folder that makes my dropbox full.
Now I need to unsync it following these steps:

1. Open your Dropbox desktop app preferences.
2. Click the Sync tab.
3. Under Selective Sync, click Selective Sync… (as I use Windows).
4. Check the folders you'd like saved on your hard drive. Uncheck the folders you'd like removed.
5. Click Update.
   However, the unwanted folder keeps appearing and syncing many times!
   Anyone who could help! Thanks
   peter

[Walter]

Hey @peter05, thanks for joining our Community and sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Just to make sure we're on the same page, can you please let me know what's the desktop app reporting in your system tray at the moment?

Thanks!

[peter05]

Hi Walter,

Thank you for your support.

Dropbox v122.4.4867 is seen on my desktop toolbar.
I am using Win 10, 64 bit.

Thanks

peter

[Walter]

Thanks for providing this information, Peter.

Apart from its version, could you tell me if it's currently syncing or if it's 'up to date'? 

Can you also clarify what happens when you try to selectively unsync this specific folder through the app's preferences? 

[peter05]

Hi Walter,

Thank you for your response and questions.

My dropbox Windows app keeps syncing until it gets to the storage limit. I then try to delete some unused files in the unwanted syncing folder and since that folder is "my PC" with files keeping in and out, Dropbox keeps syncing and I keep deleting again and again.

I attach here the snapshot showing you the folder "My PC" keeps appearing despite I untick and click update tab.
Thanks Walter,

peter

[Rich · Accepted solution]

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@peter05 wrote:

My dropbox Windows app keeps syncing until it gets to the storage limit. I then try to delete some unused files in the unwanted syncing folder and since that folder is "my PC" with files keeping in and out, Dropbox keeps syncing and I keep deleting again and again.

---

You have the computer backup feature enabled.

• https://help.dropbox.com/organize/how-to-use-dropbox-backup 

Also, Selective Sync is used to remove folders from your computer while leaving them in your Dropbox account online. It's meant to save hard drive space; not space in your account.

Mod note: edited to update link in post [last update 2023]

[peter05]

Hi Rich,

Your instruction drives me to focus on BackUp tab issue. And finally the problem has been sorted out.

Thanks

peter

[Rsync]

If you have a business account for your company and everyone has access to it and someone chose to sync files to their local machine but you did not want them to do that, how can you instruct them to unsync and delete folders from their local machine? This is a Mac environment, can they just log out from dropbox on their local machine, then delete all of the folders and then since they are not logged in it will only remove from their local machine and not the business account? Also, if they were to delete files or folders without unsyncing are those files backed up and recoverable? 

[Megan]

Hey @Rsync, welcome to our Community! 

The best way to remove content safely is to first sign out of the app, then uninstall it. Once that is done, they can delete any Dropbox content off of the device. 

If they had enabled our computer backup feature, they might want to disable this too. 

As for any files that might get deleted, they should be recoverable for some time depending on your account's plan. Can you check your subscription here and let me know? 

Keep me posted.

[Hector L]

It seems that the my PC Documents folder has appeared in my Dropbox account causing ALL my files to be visible in Dropbox instead of those I choose to be visible.  The Backup checkbox is selected because Carbonite uses it to identify the folder for backup purposes.  Is there a way to turn off the mirroring of my Documents folder without deselecting "Backup"?