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Andrew-RFLB's avatar
Andrew-RFLB
Helpful | Level 5
8 years ago
Solved

Smart Sync and Quick Preview on Mac

Smart Sync causes my quick preview function (spacebar) to not function properly on my Mac. I can't preview thumbnails, or quick preview any videos or photos. Any ideas why this happens?
desktop
Mac
Setting up the apps
  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    8 years ago

    Likely because you're trying to preview a file that doesn't exist on your computer.

     

    When you set a file to Online Only, the only thing that's left of that file on your computer is the necessary information to make it appear in the folder. Since there's no content in the file, your OS (nor any other program) is able to preview it.

     

    Remember, when you set a file to Online Only, the file is removed from the computer leaving behind only a marker file. In order to access that file, whether it be to open and edit it or simply preview it, the file needs to be on the computer (Smart Sync doesn't allow you to open files directly from the Dropbox servers). When you open a file, it's synced back to your local drive and then opened as normal. When you're done with the file, if you want it to be online-only again, you need to mark it as such.

Rod2's avatar
Rod2
Helpful | Level 5
7 years ago

I'm having the exact same problems described. Any solutions yet???

 

My workaround has been relaunching Finder multiple times a day. Very annoying!

Jane's avatar
Jane
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
7 years ago
Hey Ckrupinsky & Rod2, I appreciate the time you took to post us on this matter! 
 
At this point, let me re-iterate Rich’s point on the first page that Online Only files leave behind only a marker file containing just the necessary information to make it appear in the folder, which doesn’t have any content. (Ckrupinsky) It’s my understanding that you’ve been experiencing this issue after upgrading your account to Dropbox Professional though, as in all likelihood you’ve utilized the Smart Sync feature after the upgrade. 
 
I understand that you’re interested in seeing a change in this behavior & I’ve made our team aware of your comments & interest. After further investigation though, the latest update I received is that what you’re seeing is indeed expected & if there was any improvement, it should have been from the OS vendor’s side. 
 
Apologies if that’s not ideal to you & I hope that this brings some more clarity to your initial query. Of course, I’m always here if you’d like to further discuss it, so please keep me updated on this thread, as I’ve gathered all relevant comments from different threads here. Thanks! 
  • Rod2's avatar
    Rod2
    Helpful | Level 5
    7 years ago
    Hi Jane


    No, it looks like you still don’t understand what the problem is.

    We’re NOT taking about files that are available online only. I’m unable to preview files AFTER they have been downloded and made Local!

    Let me repeat: I am not able to “space bar” files that are available LOCALLY on my machine. And to make matters worse, once I hit the “make local” option, Dropbox makes me lose “space bar preview” on ALL my files, even those that are on my Desktop, for example. It’s clearly a bug from Dropbox that’s affecting all OS.

    Space bar only starts working again after I do a “relaunch finder” command.

    Is that clear now?
    • Jane's avatar
      Jane
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      7 years ago
      I appreciate your admittedly very detailed post here Rod2! 
       
      As I’d like to put that to the attention of a specialized team member, I’ve made sure to create a Support Request on our system on your behalf (gathering all info you’ve included on this discussion here), so as to forward your request to a specialized colleague. 
       
      Whenever you find some time, please check your inbox for my email & I’ll make sure to promptly follow-up with you & help you address this inquiry in any way I can. 
       
      Thanks again & I’ll be awaiting your next email, so as to move forward on the matter together!
      • User4759's avatar
        User4759
        Helpful | Level 6
        7 years ago

        I opened a support ticket. They said to turn off Dropbox and see if it was still happening, because that would prove it wasn't Dropbox. I turned it off during a time when it was acting up and the problem continued. I'm not convinced that rules out Dropbox, but Support apparently is, and maybe they're right. I can't find any trace of a single non-Dropbox using Mac user who has to use the "qlmanage -r" command in terminal after about every 10 viewings of an image, but that's my life now. And no one is interested in helping.

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