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Hello! I upgraded my mac OS to Catalina, and now my dropbox has gotten stuck into constantly syncing. This has remained in constant sync for 3 days now.
Can you tell me how to get it back to normal?
THANK YOU!
Eric
Thank you! My problem has been solved. Here is how it was solved:
All done!
Hey Eric @Joint S.!
Thanks for joining Dropbox Community and sharing your issue with us.
Usually after an update of your Operating System, many apps might need to be reinstalled and be provided with permissions again to function under the new enviroment. Have you tried that? If not, I do suggest it.
If you have, please get back to me with screenshots of the syncing icons and the status described, as well as the version of Dropbox you have over there.
Looking forward to troubleshooting with you, if need.
Thanks in advance!
Fiona
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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Hi there -- thanks much!. For your first idea -- well, every single document in my entire dropbox is stuck in sync. So your idea would mean that I would have to totally reinstall every app on my system. I really think that's not it.... BUT:
BUT -- I discovered something new. In dropbox menu, I went to the "VIEW SYNC ISSUES" command, and it listed two folders in particular that were having sync issues. they are both called "default" and are located deep in a few locations under a system a folder called "relocated items" (that may have been created due to the new macOS installation. BELOW Please see the attached screenshots called "Sync Issues default 1" and also 2.
AND, as you requested, I am also including two screenshots "Sync icons 1 and 2" of the many files and folders that are marked as permanently syncing.
Sorry, here are the other two I mentioned, of the sync icons. (also note, one of the screenshots above got doubled.)
Greatly appreciate the additional info!
Since there is an issue with the system installed there, after the update of your OS, I still suggest to reinstall. Provide all the appropriate Mac permissions to Dropbox again and finally, please make sure that you have no symlinks.
Let me know if the issue persists after reinstalling. Thank you!
Fiona
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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Thank you! My problem has been solved. Here is how it was solved:
All done!
So happy to know it is solved.
Thank you for posting the solution step by step to help others!
You add value to our Community with your participation.
Hope to see you around in another thread.
Fiona
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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I'm having this exact same issue after upgrading to Catalina, with the exact same access issues to the "Default" folders from the "Relocated Items" folder. This folder had a red icon on it so I tried first to change permissions on it to Read and Write and later delete it completely (after backing it up on external drive). Now dropbox, rather than being stuck on "Syncing 2 files.." , is just stuck on "Checking for changes..." instead with all status icons in the file directory perpetually syncing.
I should mention I both have a business account and personal account synced to the computer in question and the issue only seems to affect the business account. The personal is all green ticks.
Doing a complete reinstall and resync is not an option for me right now as I'm on a deadline and use dropbox for business. Are you able to look in to this issue further? Seems strange dropbox would try to upload the "Relocated Files/Default" folder in the first place, it's not even located in the dropbox or even root user directory but in the Shared directory of Macintosh HD?
Sorry to hear you're having issues with this @Klabbe.
Do you happen to have any symlinks in your account?
@Klabbe wrote:
Seems strange dropbox would try to upload the "Relocated Files/Default" folder in the first place, it's not even located in the dropbox or even root user directory but in the Shared directory of Macintosh HD?
Symbolic links or "symlinks", occur when folders are added to Dropbox that reference directories outside of the Dropbox folder or inside of the Dropbox folder but in a different folder. Because these symlinks may reference locations where Dropbox may have limited accessibility, they can cause various issues as the one you're noticing at the moment.
If that's indeed the case here, please have a look at the following Help Center article (specifically the 7th step) on how to find and remove them to resume syncing:
https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/high-cpu-usage
I hope this helped to a certain extent while we're always a post away if you have any questions. Just keep us posted on your progress please!
Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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Thanks for the response Walter!
After removing the Relocated Items folder completely I left it syncing over night and now dropbox now showing Up to date, and everything looks good with selective sync back to my pre-upgrade state.
So to anyone else experiencing this issue; Removing the "Relocated Items" that catalina creates on install could be a viable option to OP's full re-install. Of course you'd have to make a call if the folder contains anything you need to keep first. More info on the folder and why it's there here: https://www.macrumors.com/guide/relocated-items/
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