Copying Folders from Dropbox to External Hard Drive when they're online only.

[Adam G.18]

I have only just discovered a DISASTROUS aspect of Dropbox which is not properly documented .. and I am a years long Dropbox user and pay a subscription yearly for 2 Terrabytes.  I was even featured as a Dropbox user and give the interview for free etc and it was used round the company because I really rate(ed) Dropbox...

1/ If you try to Copy a Folder from Dropbox that is ONLINE Only to an External Drive .. this does not work properly. In other words YOU MUST have made the files LOCAL or they will not copy properly from an external Drive

2/ I am astounded that this is not UPFRONT in the documentation regarding transferring Dropbox Files from your Online  Dropbox Folder to an external drive. That is the only place I work in: in the folder online.  I look always to see the status of whether the files have the green tick or the online only grey.

3/ But here's the worst thing: if you copy a Folder to an External Drive without checking that every thing is Local ( green tick) - if there is any blue downloading symbol or grey cloud online only symbol those files will not copy properly ( BUT ON THE EXTERNAL DRIVE IT LOOKS AS IF THE WHOLE FOLDER HAS COPIED - until you check the sizes of the files, and overall the folder is less GB than the orignal, and individual files have been copied in NAME ONLY with ZERO BYTES....

 * * *

Where in the Dropbox Documentation does it give this absolutely crucial warning .. because people like me will run up against this all the time:

Take my situation: You have a 500Gb hard drive on a 2015 Macbook Pro.  You start running out of storage space. You start putting big older projects on Dropbox and Smartsync them to save space. Then you find yourself still running out of disk space  but you need an older project so you realise you have to radically make the huge folder Offline and move stuff completely off your computer.

It has been for me a total waste of time and money to pay for 2 Terrabytes - because I have never in several years of paying for this subscription, which is exorbitantly expensive, never used more than a quarter of it for the reasons above. Too much shuffling and waiting for files to re - constitute on the computer after being in online cold storage.

And one of the complaints I have made with Dropbox when they interviewed me for their publicity ( as a self employed musician etc) is that the jump from a free account to a 2Terrabyte account is too high and there should be something in between for all the reasons above.

Perhaps I am completely ignorant of some feature or aspect of Dropbox but if someone is able to solve this issue I will be the first to eat my words!

Adam Glasser

[link removed by moderator]

[Megan]

Hey @Adam G.18, thanks for posting here today!

I can definitely see where you're coming from, and I appreciate that you took the time to share your thoughts and needs with us today. 

When a file or folder is online-only, essentially what you have synced in your Dropbox folder is a placeholder of said file. Therefore what you're copying over to your external hard drive, is the info and placeholders of the files. 

As you mentioned, you'd need to change the file, in order for the content to sync locally, then move it to an external hard drive.

Your comments on our plans, and how copying online-only files works have been quite helpful, and I will do everything I can to ensure that your voice is heard. We strive to make Dropbox a safe place for our users, hear what they need and I'll let our team know about your concerns. 

If you have anything you might want to add to that, don't hesitate. 

[CarissaESLT]

Is there anyway this can be resloved? How can online only files me copied to an external harddrive?