Dropbox synchronises all of the data again

[Holetree]

I am aware that I am not the first and not the only one who has this problem: all of a sudden Dropbox starts the synchronisation of ALL the files. The worst part of this is that you nowhere find an answer from Dropbox about this problem. Am a Dropbox user for many years however I think I've seen it...

[Lusil]

Hi there @Holetree, 

Thanks for checking in with us about this. 

I'd be more than happy to help, I'll just need a bit more info, such as:

• Are you running the latest version of the desktop app (84.3.155)? You can check this by hovering over your Dropbox icon on your system tray or menu bar. 
• Is ther a third party app that's affecting the syncing process, such as a security software?
• Have you also tried temporarily disabling your antivirus?

Let me know what you find!

[Holetree]

Hi Lusil, my version is 83.4.152. There is no third party app and no antivirus system involved. Am running the newest iMac with Catalina.

[Lusil]

Thanks for checking those out for me, @Holetree. 

Could you also ensure that you don't have, approximately, more than 300,000 files syncing in your Dropbox folder? 

Although this is a soft limit, please note that the performance of the Dropbox desktop app can decline if you have more than that. 

If you do, one way to tackle this is by using selective sync to choose certain folders to sync. 

Let me know if this helps!

[Holetree]

Hi Lusil, I have more than 700k files and so far I never had problems with this (I don't have this amount since yesterday...) 

Your link provided didn't provide me an answer re 'selective sync' how should I do that ?

I am so disappointed with Dropbox that I will move files away from this platform since this has become completely unrealiable. Dropbox slows down my Mac so much that I can hardly work with this anymore. The weird thing is that this problem only occurs with the iMac. With my Macbook I don't have this at all. 

[Lusil]

Oh, apologies for the confusion, @Holetree! 

I've updated the link attached to my post above to this one. There, you can also find a video step-by-step guide on how to selectively sync your synced folders. 

If you're still having trouble with this though, let me know and I'll make sure to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks!

[Holetree]

Hi Lusil

I don't seem to have this feature and currently dropbox keeps synching and synching, slowing down the system tremendously. You still didn't provide the answer to my question why dropbox started to synch all of the files (which obviously have been synched in the past already...

[Lusil]

Thanks for nudging me back, @Holetree. 

I'm afraid I'm not able to pin-point why the Dropbox desktop app synced all your files again, as it could be due to a number of reasons. 

In general though, if you have more than 300,000 files syncing in your Dropbox folder, the performance of the desktop app can decline, despite this being a soft limit that depends on the specifications of the device. 

One way to tackle this is to selective sync folders that have synced to your Dropbox folder, a feature available to all users and Dropbox accounts. To selectively sync content:

1. Click the Dropbox icon in your menu bar.
2. Select your profile picture or initials.
3. Go to Preferences...
4. Navigate to the Sync tab.
5. Click Choose folders to sync and on the left-hand side, uncheck the boxes of any folders that you don't need on your computer's hard drive.
6. When you're done, select Update.

You can also check out this article on how to improve the syncing speed of your desktop app. 

Keep me posted on any updates!