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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
nickyhajal
Helpful | Level 6

Wow, yes! MegaSync seems to have this feature and be a better option than Dropbox across the board (cheaper, more features, nicer sync app).  Uploading my files now, hope it continues to impress.

Thanks!

Frank S.39
New member | Level 2

I am unable to restore a folder I accidentially deleted because it's too large. It's too large because Dropbox synced the entire node_modules folder. I now have to revert two events with no clue as to which (if either) is going to bring back the actual files I need because I can't read through the incredibly designed infinte scroll with no search Event. I have been a paying member of Dropbox for over a decade and this still is an issue I cannot solve.

Eric G.11
Explorer | Level 4

hmmm megasync.

 

I have never heard of it before. I once used copy which was another company.

Because it was not famous it wne tout of business and I had to grab all my contrent off of it very fast! I dont want that to happen again...

How big is megasync and where on their site does it say they block node_modules or allow you to make an ignore file?

jonathan r.38
Explorer | Level 3

Is there at least an explanation as to why this hasn't happened yet? I'm coming up on my renewal and I'd be way more understanding if dropbox communicated a technical roadblock as to why this hasn't happened yet.

PistolSlap
Explorer | Level 3

I couldnt find any other question like this.  I want to exclude some folders from dropbox.  I know that selective sync allows you to not sync certain devices with dropbox folders, but that doesn't help me because that doesnt affect dropbox itself.  

Selective sync is good if you have a device that does not have a lot of space and you don't want to sync your Camera Uploads to that device to save space, for example.

But my problem is I don't have much space in dropbox because a subfolder (Folder B) of one of my dropbox synced folders (Folder A)  is massive.  Folder A is a very important supra folder that I want to sync, but if I could exclude Folder B, it would mean the rest of the valuable files in Folder A and its other subfolders would be safe, but I would regain that space that Folder B was unecessarily hogging. 

Is there a way to do this?

Thank you!

Daphne
Dropbox Staff
 
I’ve merged your post here as this is currently a feature not available in Dropbox, but many like yourself have requested this. Moving your post here enables us to track these requests much easier, and I’ve made sure to pass along your comments here to our dev team for review.
 
Thanks for your input - Have a great weekend ahead peeps!
paracha3
New member | Level 2

+1

Johnny W.2
Helpful | Level 7

DropBox just sent me an email saying “DropBox Plus” has been released:

The all-new Plus plan is packed with top-requested features.

What nonsense!

This is the most requested feature! And it’s been (ironically) totally ignored by DropBox!

nickyhajal
Helpful | Level 6

Dropbox increased the limit to 2TB, but my 2018 MBP chokes indexing and syncing just 136GB of files (even with selective sync syncing just a few GB of my projects!). I imagine that is largely because of the sheer number of small files in all my node_modules and similar directories.

What is the point of increasing my storage limit if the Dropbox app can't even handle processing less than 10% of the limit?

At the very least, just let me tell Dropbox to completely ignore problem files.

jonathan r.38
Explorer | Level 3

Dropbox employees added this thread to their .ignore file

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1,362 votes received Status: Investigating