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Add .dropboxignore directory to exclude folders without using selective sync

Add .dropboxignore directory to exclude folders without using selective sync

Tom_M
Helpful | Level 6

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

Latest Update
Emma
Community Manager

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.

Status changed to: Investigating
973 Comments
KlausB
Helpful | Level 7

Still hoping for this feature to come. Though those "filename.dat~" files being uploaded are not technically a problem, they are still a nuisance, some software insists on putting temporary files in the same directory or a subdirectory of the location of the user document, so pattern-based exclusions (e.g. all folders named ".cache" or all files matching "*~") would be quite useful still.

Travis W.13
New member | Level 2

Absolutely flabbergasted that such a highly requested - and logically useful - feature would be outright declined. Another Dropbox Plus user who is going to be reevaluating options... Ridiculous.

 

For others who have asked, Sync has the ability to use an .ignore file similar to .gitignore style and storage/pricing is similar. 👋🏻

Eric M.13
Helpful | Level 6

Thanks for the tip on Sync's ignore file @Travis W.13

JMurph2015
Explorer | Level 3

Highlights:

  • Exact same file format as .gitignore and .dockerignore
  • Feature could be an opt-in on the official client
  • Client then ignores anything in that directory or its subdirectories that match the patterns in the .dropboxignore files up to that point.
  • The above rule means that a .dropboxignore at the top of your dropbox would be applied to everything in your Dropbox, but files below that would only apply to their directories and so on.
  • .dropboxignore files are synced to Dropbox unless otherwise specified?

 

I think this would be a really useful feature for software developers that use Dropbox to sync code between their computers because it would keep build artifacts (the various files generated when compiling code) from being synced around, which would speed up the sync process while also using less space.  This could even be profitable for Dropbox because I would bet that many of the people abusing Dropbox in this way are more likely corporate customers with unlimited plans anyway, since it is relatively untenable to do this on most personal plans.

 

I imagine this could also be good for other creative / professional types like video editors who don't want all of the files that something like Adobe Premier creates when it does an export.

 

Lastly it seems pretty straightforward to implement as these things go.  Just a couple klocs (kilo lines of code) in the desktop clients would probably do the trick.

BakerKearfott
New member | Level 2

In my case, I am working on a project from C / C++ / Fortran and Matlab source code.  After some changes, numerous .o (linux) or .obj (Windows) files are created, and synced with Dropbox.  Although this is not usually a problem for me, I am generally concerned about use of bandwidth and Dropbox resources for it.  (It seems wasteful.)  I thus would prefer to be able to exclude these file types.

Note: I find Dropbox more convenient than say SVN and the like, since it is simpler, with less server installation and maintenance issues, etc.

PhotonWarrior
Explorer | Level 4

The world doesn't revolve around how you and how you want to do things. So glad dropbox works for you, but why are you even posting here? What is your point? To brag about how awesome dropbox is?

BakerKearfott
New member | Level 2

Dear PhotonWarrier,

I apologize if I offended you.  This string appeared to be about reasons Dropbox should have the ability  for the user to specify files to exclude by filetype, and I was giving another example, at the same trime trying to be polite and give my reasons for using Dropbox rather than alternatives.  This is the first time I have posted to any such discussion group, and I will not do it again.  I have neither the time nor inclination to reply to personal attacks, as you apparently do.  I have plenty of other private venues for communication and to effect change.

Johnny W.2
Helpful | Level 7

"Status changed to: Declined"

 

?!?

 

It took four years for you to decline the most frequently requested feature on Dropbox? If Sync.com has this feature, I'm switching later this week.

 

So long you awful, awful company.

Johnny W.2
Helpful | Level 7

Status Declined?!?

 

So angry right now

Musiclee
Helpful | Level 6

filesanywhere has had this cool feature for YEARS,  

my company used to use their service

 

this would cut my sync, indexing time in HALF, from 45 minutes to maybe 20 minutes,

so sad Dropbox is not capable of adding this,  

they should look into hiring some real coders, developers

Image already added
 
 
 
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