How can I force the mobile app to upload photos?

[seftonbarn]

When I first used Dropbox a few years ago, as soon as I took a photo on my androad phone the photo would be uploaded to my dropbox and synced to my PC.  Nowadays I can take a picture on my android in the home (with connected wifi) and when I hover over the dropbox icon on the PC it states "Dropbox Up to date" it can be hours before the system decided to upload/Sync.  Is there a way I can force it to upload/sync now please?

[Jay]

Hi there, could you confirm the exact settings you have for the camera uploads? There’s options for it to upload when not low on battery, and so on.

A screenshot showing these settings would help! Thanks in advance.

[seftonbarn]

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@Jay wrote:

Hi there, could you confirm the exact settings you have for the camera uploads? There’s options for it to upload when not low on battery, and so on.

A screenshot showing these settings would help! Thanks in advance.

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Thanks Jay.   It is set to upload when camera battery level is at 30%, mine is at 75% and when on wifi.  Mine is on wifi.  Can't really take a snapshot and upload, that is the whole point of this posting!!

[Jay]

Thanks, just a few more queries here:

• Do you have another app that backs up or edits your photos? If so, what’s the name of this app?
• Are you able to manually upload images from the Dropbox mobile app to your account?
• Does the Photos tab show any photos or videos attempting to upload?

[seftonbarn]

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@Jay wrote:

Thanks, just a few more queries here:

• Do you have another app that backs up or edits your photos? If so, what’s the name of this app?
• Are you able to manually upload images from the Dropbox mobile app to your account?
• Does the Photos tab show any photos or videos attempting to upload?

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I have MS onedrive that Syncs my documents but it does not sync photos or videos; I rely on Dropbox for this.

I don't know how to manually upload from the mobile app.

I can't see any evidence in the photos tab of photos or videos uploading.

[Jay · Accepted solution]

The steps to upload images manually can be found here. 

Let me know if this is successful!

[seftonbarn]

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@Jay wrote:

The steps to upload images manually can be found here. 

Let me know if this is successful!

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Thanks Jay

I can't explain this but all I did was open the app on the phone (not change any settings) and then all of a sudden it started uploading to the PC.  Restarted phone.  Tested again and it appears to be uploading automatically again.  Strange.

[Jay]

Thanks for the info, let me know if this occurs again!

[Jim B.45]

The issue is that Dropbox arbitrarily doesn't do camera uploads for hours, days, possibly ever. The best response from Dropbox is to fix their software so it does. The next best response is to inform customers that they can trigger an upload by opening the Dropbox app on the phone and tap the Photos tab. The lousy support response is to ask a bunch of stupid questions and then tell them how to manually upload photos.

[seamusvibe]

"opening the Dropbox app on the phone and tap the Photos tab"

This isn't working for me. rebooted the phone and still nothing. I'm able to manually upload stuff, but I want to be able to force the automatic upload. Because if I manually uploaded them, whenever the stupid app decides to do the auto upload it will create a second copy of the file. 

Why can't I just force it to trigger the manual upload? I really only use Dropbox for camera backup, but if it can't do this anymore I guess it might be time to look elsewhere.