Dropbox is Changing the file name to UPPERCASE letters

[Henrik K.3]

Sometimes filenames in my Dropbox folder(s) are changed to UPPERCASE letters. Seemingly random, but probably isn't 🙂

I can see from the version history that the file has been renamed (changing from lower to upper case or vice versa), but I have not done that. I don't think it is the client software either, as I experience this with different file types.

[Sanchez]

Hey @Henrik K.3,

That’s a new one! It sounds like something we’ll need to send to our team for review. Before we do that, would you be able to send me a screenshot showing what you’ve described? If you do, just make sure there isn’t any personal info show, as this is a public forum
 

Thanks! 

[Henrik K.3]

Here is the full log for the file. The only rename I did is the first one where it was renamed from "test.xlsm". The file has been used on two different computers where one is a Mac.

[Henrik K.3]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lg8j0z5uli36wnl/2017-09-14%2015_10_06-Files%20-%20Dropbox.png?dl=0

[Sanchez]

Thanks for the link to the screenshot, @Henrik K.3. 

In the upper portion of your image, there are a couple of consecutive renames of the file, at 4:42 and 4:43 PM. Did you do either of these renames, or maybe access the files on a Mac and a Windows machine at those times? 

Let me know when you can. 

Have a great weekend
 

[Henrik K.3]

I have not changed the case myself in any of the cases. I have switched between Mac and Windows on this file, but I am not sure when this was. 

However I have seen other files that have changed case too, and they were never opened/saved on the Mac. Only Windows.

[Jane · Accepted solution]

Hey @Henrik K.3, 

You may keep in mind that Dropbox supports case-sensitive file names, but Windows pcs don't. While it may appear that you can have mixed case file names, they both don't at the file system level. Consequently, you can’t have two files named "temp" and "TEMP" in the same folder on Windows operating systems.

Thus, there is no event that Dropbox can send to a Windows or Mac client that says "rename temp to TEMP" because that's not possible. This will work on Linux, and specially configured Mac OS, because they support mixed case.

What you can do to work around this issue is rename the file twice, like this example:

1. rename "temp" to "tmp"
2. rename "tmp" to "TEMP"

Hope this helps you clarify, let me know if you need more details about it in your reply! 

[Henrik K.3]

Weird thing, but I will have to stick to the workaround then. Thanks!

[Jane]

Hey @Henrik K.3, 

Great, this trick will help you organize your Dropbox files! 

If it's not too much trouble for you, would you mind taking a minute of your time to fill out a survey sharing your experience using the Dropbox Community? You can access it here: http://bit.ly/2lNKIxT .

[ Please feel free to get back in touch here at any time if you have any other Dropbox questions or experience any issues in the future. ]

Hope you have a great rest of the day! 

[BMP]

The solution I found was to select Properties of my dropbox folder and then to unselect the files as "Read Only" and saved that.

Then in the preferences I unselected the lowercase files and once they had cleared my pc, I added the files back to my dropbox folder - they were now in caitals as on the web.