cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Announcements
We've been busy working on some major updates to the Community, so check out what's changing, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community right here.

Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

How can I completely disable Smart Sync?

How can I completely disable Smart Sync?

Whatever2018
New member | Level 2
Go to solution

How can I completely, 100%, disable Smart Sync so that Dropbox will always download all of my files?

The settings I have found all apply to NEW files and seem to have no impact on old files.

What I would like is to set my Dropbox to behave as if Smart Sync does not exist or has ever existed.

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hey there @Whatever2018 - how are you today?

I'm sorry to hear you would like to opt out of Smart Sync. Depending on the account you're on now you can do it following the steps mentioned below:  

Individuals that no longer wish to use Smart Sync can do so with the steps found in the following Help Center article: 

https://www.​​dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/filesystem-integration#optout

 If you're the Admin of a Dropbox for Business team and you'd like to opt all members of your Dropbox Business team out of Smart Sync, I'd also suggest to see the following Help Center article specifically under the section "Dropbox Business team admins: how to opt out your whole team from the system extension":  

https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/filesystem-integration#optout

Also note that some of your team members may have connected a work and personal account. If you opt out your team from the system extension, team members won't be able to use Smart Sync on any personal devices (or personal accounts) where they're also signed in to their Business account.

I hope this information helps and please keep me posted on your progress!


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
:arrows_counterclockwise: Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join

View solution in original post

66 Replies 66

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hey there @Whatever2018 - how are you today?

I'm sorry to hear you would like to opt out of Smart Sync. Depending on the account you're on now you can do it following the steps mentioned below:  

Individuals that no longer wish to use Smart Sync can do so with the steps found in the following Help Center article: 

https://www.​​dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/filesystem-integration#optout

 If you're the Admin of a Dropbox for Business team and you'd like to opt all members of your Dropbox Business team out of Smart Sync, I'd also suggest to see the following Help Center article specifically under the section "Dropbox Business team admins: how to opt out your whole team from the system extension":  

https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/filesystem-integration#optout

Also note that some of your team members may have connected a work and personal account. If you opt out your team from the system extension, team members won't be able to use Smart Sync on any personal devices (or personal accounts) where they're also signed in to their Business account.

I hope this information helps and please keep me posted on your progress!


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
:arrows_counterclockwise: Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join

Seager1
Helpful | Level 6
Go to solution

None of this works at all. Users really ought to have the choice to switch smart sync on or off but this seems impossible. I have "normal" dropbox on other devices but when I upgraded the SDD on this Macbook Air I am on, suddenly the nonsense Smartsync was on and I cannot find a way to switch it off. Time to move to OneDrive, amazing how a startup like Dropbox can drive its customers away. Clowns!

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Sorry to hear you feel this way @Seager1

If you would prefer not to use Smart Sync, then you can do so by setting your default sync preferences for new content to "local" and by recalling any files that are currently "online only".

For instructions on syncing online-only content and choosing the default setting for new content, please see the following Help Center article:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/smart-sync

If there are any issues with this process please don’t hesitate to reach back out with screenshots depicting the problem at hand and I'll be more than happy to follow up. 


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
:arrows_counterclockwise: Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join

PT4
Explorer | Level 4
Go to solution

I feel that way too. This change sucks for existing users. I have to now figure out how to get thousands of files to download to my PC as I expected they would. Terrible way to treat existing users. I'll be looking for alternate services.

trosny
New member | Level 2
Go to solution

I don't think anyone is having trouble specifying "local" such that new files and folders are stored both locally and within the cloud.  The difficulty is getting the old files to change from "online only" to "local".

You mention in your post .... recalling any files that are currently "online only"

Is there a way to recall currently "online only" files such that they become "local"?  @Walter, this is not explained in your provided link.

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

While the most straight-forward way to achieve the mentioned recall would be to right click on the said folders/files and set them to 'Local', there's also a number of applications that can cause Smart Sync files to be recalled.

The most common of them include anti-virus applications and programs such as Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop which have "recents" menus, because, in order to fulfill these requests from these processes, Dropbox syncs the files locally to your device.

Some examples are:

  • Backup services
  • Antivirus
  • Recently used file lists
  • Third party applications that monitor files in general

If a file has been set to 'Online Only' that you would prefer to have locally available, simply right click on it and select 'Local' from the Smart Sync menu.

I hope this helped @trosny


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
:arrows_counterclockwise: Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join

trosny
New member | Level 2
Go to solution

Yes.  Thanks for the answer.

On Windows 10, right-clicking a high-level directory and selecting 'Smart Sync' and then 'local' did the trick.  All the subfiles and subfolders were subsequently switched from "online only" to "local", i.e. the files were downloaded to my local machine.

It seems strange that such a simply solution was so difficult to find.  Moreover, it would be nice if such an option were availalbe under the "sync" tab within the "preferences" of Dropbox.  This is where I (and it appears many other users) were looking for a solution.

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Glad I could help @trosny-all's well that ends well - right?

On a side note, I've also forwarded your suggestion to the team for future consideration -thank you for your feedback on this one!

Enjoy the rest of your day and feel free to reach out should you come up with a Dropbox question; we're always happy to assist :grinning:


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, give it a Like below to let us know.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Need help with something else? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Find Tips & Tricks Discover more ways to use Dropbox here!
:arrows_counterclockwise: Interested in Community Groups? Click here to join

Seager1
Helpful | Level 6
Go to solution

Hi all, in fact the solution I eventually got Dropbox to tell me was the following:

1. Open Dropbox.com.

2. click on your i.d.

3. click on "settings" and then scroll down for ages till you get to "Dropbox System Extension" and click that to "off". 

It is clear Dropbox no longer want users to store stuff on their own computer, so they make it v hard to find this solution, I had to hassle them to admit it. Weird!! Ashley S

Need more support?
Who's talking

Top contributors to this post

  • User avatar
    Laurent R.5 New member | Level 2
  • User avatar
    JB M.2 Collaborator | Level 9
  • User avatar
    Cimbian Helpful | Level 6
  • User avatar
    JOhn_12345 New member | Level 2
  • User avatar
    mulko New member | Level 2
What do Dropbox user levels mean?