I'm experiencing an issue syncing my files, as syncing takes too long to complete on my desktop.

[nigelbobs]

had to do a disc wipe and retsored from Time Machine.  this was a week ago and dropbox has been syncing for all of this period of time and appears to be only half way through...  little should have changed and therefore why is it taking so long.....

Thanks

[Jane]

Hey nigelbobs, sorry to hear that syncing takes longer than expected for you, let’s look into the matter together! 

#1. For starters, are you running the latest Beta version of the application on your desktop (tip: it’s 53.3.65)? 

#2. Have you been able to check back on the Dropbox icon on your system tray? You should see the syncing progress there. When Dropbox is fully synced then you should see a tick followed by the words “Up to date” on the menu bar. If you do not see this then can you please let me know what the message being displayed reads?

#3. If it’s not too much trouble for you, I’d also appreciate a screenshot (omitting personal info) of the message you’re getting, so as to understand exactly what you’re experiencing. 

Thanks in advance & I’ll be awaiting your next message, in order to look into that together. Happy Monday! 

[nigelbobs]

yep latest install.

atthaed is screen shot stil 470k + files to sync...

[Jane]

Thanks for confirming that you’re on the latest Beta Build & I appreciate the screenshot nigelbobs, it was really helpful!

Based on what I gather, there are two likely reasons for the syncing issue you’re facing (as you’ve mentioned that the behavior is not improving for the past week 

• Are you by any chance utilizing third party applications or databases that may be saving information directly to the Dropbox folder? If so, could you check for (& then move) live databases to a different location on your device (eg. you may have moved your My Photos or another similar folder in Dropbox)? Once you do, you may save your non-live copies in Dropbox, though you may have to change settings within the third-party apps respectively if this is setup as a default option. If you'd like to take a look at the symlinks in your Dropbox folder you can copy and paste the following line into the Terminal:

  find ~/Dropbox -type l -exec ls -lah {} \;

• If this doesn’t point you towards any Symlinked locations, I'd advise re-installing anew, following the steps outlined here (this is merely in order to remove all previous settings and configuration) & setup your syncing settings from scratch. In the event that you have 500k files in your account, it would also be useful to use our Selective Sync & Smart Sync features, which lets you select only the folders you want to be synced locally on your computer, which should speed up matters for you. 

Please let me know of the outcome here, so as to follow-up with you as closely as possible. Thanks & I’ll be awaiting your next message on this discussion! 

[nigelbobs]

Hi Jane

Screen grab attached...

Does it mean anything?

[Jane · Accepted solution]

Without being absolutely confident (as I can't access your account specifics here for security reasons), I’d guess that you may have two accounts linked on this device & the command has brought up results for your personal folder (whereas it’s my understanding that you’re experiencing the syncing issue on a Business account, as you're writing us on the Business Forum section). 

As I’d like to help you on the matter as much as possible, I’ve made sure to create a Support Request on our system on your behalf (gathering all info you’ve sent us here), so as to focus on the issue in question based on the info I have on my tools for your account & move forward together. 

Whenever you find some time, please check your inbox for my email & I’ll make sure to promptly follow-up with you from where we’ve left off on this discussion. 

Thanks again for your ongoing cooperation & I’ll be awaiting your next email, so as to get your files synced down to your Mac asap!