.dropbox-ignore to prevent folders being uploaded to DropBox like git's .gitignore

[anjanesh]

Just like we have .gitignore for preventing files / folders to be uploaded to github, it would be nice to have the same for DropBox.

I have a workspace folder with tons of node_modules folders.

I want to upload the workspace folder to my DropBox but want to skip the node_modules folders.

Is there a way to achive this by making some .dropbox-ignore entry in my workspace's folders ?

That would be really helpful. Thanks.

[anjanesh · Accepted solution]

Got the answer here : https://help.dropbox.com/files-folders/restore-delete/ignored-files

[andresharpe]

This might be useful for others on Windows and Powershell with the git command line tool installed.

The script finds all .gitignore files in current folder and subfolder and sets the ignored files and folders to not upload to Dropbox.

Get-ChildItem -Recurse | `
    Where-Object { $_.Name -eq '.gitignore' } | `
    ForEach-Object { `
        Write-Host $_.DirectoryName; `
        Push-Location $_.DirectoryName; `
        git status --ignored --short | `
            Where-Object { $_.StartsWith('!! ') } | `
            ForEach-Object { `
                $ignore = $_.Split(' ')[1].Trim('/'); `
                Write-Host $ignore; `
                Set-Content -Path $ignore -Stream com.dropbox.ignored -Value 1 `
            }; `
        Pop-Location }

You can paste this into say `dropbox-sync-ignore.ps1` and store in your PATH and run it whenever you start or update a project in git.

[anjanesh]

DropBox should come up with an update that provides this out of the box. Right now running this

xattr -w com.dropbox.ignored 1 /Users/yourname/Dropbox/workspace/react-project/node_modules

for every node project manually is a pain.

[Darcey]

What a solution, at least it can be done with a lot of work and command line BS...

Pathetic...

If you actually implemented .gitignore capabilities, you would actually get me to move away from GDrive to your services, but as is... Not a chance...

[anjanesh]

Yes, running that command is a tedious task. DropBox should implement a .drop-ignore setting setup like .gitignore.

[denysp]

Try this one:
`xattr -w com.dropbox.ignored 1 /Users/yourname/Dropbox/**/node_modules`
It should mark recursively all node module folders in your Dropbox.

[Darcey]

Too little too late...

DropBox also changed folder mappings after installing their desktop PC software, which took hours to fix manually.

For everyone if you want .ignore capabilities in a cloud storage solution check out pCloud, there are also software tools out there which can handle the .ignore functionality with GDrive etc. SyncBackFree or SyncBackPro will help you there. 

Don't use drop box software it will mess your windows installation up. It messes with the windows registry too much and then doesn't repair/restore it after removal.

[tdriley]

I got it working like denysp said, but I needed to add the -r param, so:

`xattr -rw com.dropbox.ignored 1 /Users/yourname/Dropbox/**/node_modules`

Update: Actually, both commands seem to work, but you need to run it again every time a new node_modules dir is created (eg every time you npm install a new repo), it won't ignore new ones automatically 😞

At least that's slightly better than running a new custom command for every repo.