Add .dropboxignore directory to exclude folders without using selective sync

[Tom_M]

Please please please can you add a feature that allows folders to be excluded from the Dropbox account (on windows and mac). For sure I'm not the first person to request this, but I'm yet to find a good explanation of why it's not there. A quick google search reveals loads of people also looking for the same feature. I really like the workflow I have with dropbox, but it's getting to the point where I might switch providers in order to allow better selective sync.

I've seen hackish solutions using selective sync, but it would be great if this could be done in one of the following ways:
- global pattern matching eg "node_modules"
- a marker file in the directory like .dropboxignore
- a simple right click context menu "Ignore this folder"

Other than that, keep up the good work. Cheers.
Tom

[Emma]

Hi folks, 

Thanks for your feedback on this.
While ignored files delivers for some of the use cases here, I appreciate it does not for all. 
We'll be taking another review of this thread to isolate use cases for a .dropboxignore file feature in particular.

I've updated the status and we'll take this to the product team.
As a side note, it would be helpful for us if you could outline the gap between what ignored files offers, and what a .dropboxignore file feature would add to your workflows.

Thank you.

[josephniet]

Why is this still not a thing? Manually excluding absolute paths every time I spin up / rename / move a dev project isn't an acceptable solution. I've started moving my dev work outside of my shared dropbox & using git to sync instead.

[nickyhajal]

It's completely absurd. Please add this simple feature. All the other sync tools have it.

[RaulDurand]

This feature request has been outstanding for quite some time. It appears that it may not align with Dropbox's interests, as it could potentially decrease the need for users to upgrade their storage plans due to reduced space usage.

Nonetheless, offering this feature exclusively to premium subscribers could be a viable solution. By enabling users to bypass syncing large temporary files, it would significantly streamline their workflow and save hours of syncing time. This enhancement would not only improve efficiency but also add substantial value to the premium service offerings.

[WreckItTim1]

I know you can ignore files and folders (making them only a local file that does not sync with Dropbox) using: https://help.dropbox.com/sync/ignored-files

However, this requires a command line entry for every file/folder that you want to ignore. Not only this, but you have to enter the ignore command for each subfile/subfolder that you want to ignore -- if they are nested in a folder that you do not want to ignore. Not only this, but you have to enter all of the ignore commands on each device you are syncing across. Not only this, but on each device you have to: 1. stop syncing, 2. create the folder/file you want to ignore, 3. enter the command to ignore it, 4. restart syncing. Not only this, but if you have one breach by creating a folder/file on one device with the same name as one being ignored on the other devices, and accidently sync before entering the ignore command (hey accidents happen), then it will corrupt your entire sync across all devices with multiple conflicts that now have to each be manually cleaned up. This is a nightmare for any setups that have multiple devices and/or wildcard local files and folders needed to be ignored.

Please create a text .ignore file that allows me to enter, including wildcard entries, files/folders/subfiles/subfolders to ignore across all devices. This avoids conflicts and messy work-arounds by providing a simple, elegant, and user-friendly feature to ignore files. Thank you!

edit: Not only this,  but if you make future files/folders then they will not automatically be added to an ignore list, and you can not use the ignore command until the file/folder is created -- whereas with an .ignore file you can preemptively set files/folders to be ignored (along with wildcard values).