Add .dropboxignore directory to exclude folders without using selective sync

[Tom_M]

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

[Emma]

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.

[dorival]

pCloud does have this feature, and it works on Linux and is cheaper... I couldn't believe at first, but now I became brave enough to try it out... I'm too lazy with these transitions... but it's worth it... thanks y'all (no thanks to dropbox)

[borkdude]

I am trying out pCloud and must say the ignore patterns don't work reliably for me. I want to ignore a specific subdirectory target/classes. That pattern doesn't work. 

So far, I'm not ready to drop Dropbox for pCloud.

[borkdude]

Note that a quickwin for this kind of feature would be adding an option in the "right-click" menu on a directory: enable/disable selective sync.

[nickyhajal]

Today I had to rename a few files so I decided to do a test between Dropbox & Megasync.

Dropbox: 3 hours later, 289,647 files still left to upload

Megasync: Done in 18 minutes, because it's only syncing necessary files

I still have my Dropbox account because I'm holding out hope for this feature but it's hard to justify it much longer.

[Terry U.1]

Signing up for pCloud tomorrow. After 5 years of no progress and my MacBook trying to sync over 400K files for nearly 20 days I am done with Dropbox.

[Eric G.11]

My fear of using something like pCloud is that it’s not as famous as dropbox or google drive and it might just disappear. Especially because it’s just a one time fee for 2 TB!

 I once used a cloud storage service called Copy from barracuda. It went under and everyone who used it had to rush to get all their files and information off their servers. 

 So when I see a cloud storage service offering a lot of space for very little money I get nervous that it won’t be around very long.

It does look cool though especially with its public folder which you can use like a CDN. Dropbox got rid of that a few years ago… Messed up a few of my sites...

But Dropbox now has a really cool app and I like paper by Dropbox and the collaboration tools.... 

I’m deciding if it justifies the issue of node_modules and all those horrible files syncing.

[Terry U.1]

Yeah I also have those concerns and i'd rather not switch but after changing the smart sync settings and having to wait nearly 20 days for it to re-index/sync the files - it was just too painful. 

I have been a long-time loyal Dropbox supprot and fan and persuaded many of my clients to use it as part of our projects, so have put many of them onto Dropbox.

If Dropbox would only just setup the ignore facility - the fact that several other cloud storage providers offer this, means it cannot be too complex. A ingore list or pattern would wokr, or simial a .dopboxignore file too. 

C'mon Dropbox, please lsiten to your loyal customers before you loose too many because if this issue. How it has been ignored for so long is beyond me.

[Kamik423]

Just to add my two cents:

Over the past ~2 Years my workflow has matured and Dropbox has diminished in my eyes. Both by not adding features I desperately need and by adding stuff that actively makes Dropbox unpleasant to use. (.dropboxignore would not count into this, since it could be implemented as a feature entirely invisible to users that don't need this).

Most of my projects that have to be shared with other people and also private ones now are in git repositories. Usually private GitLab ones. GitLab has a really light weight web interface and the command line tool (git) does exactly what I want. It has no giant chromium wrapper installed and also no app trying to be a social tool.

The only thing I really still use Dropbox for is as a way to share files via a public link, but I have been moving more to services like file.io, or even iCloud Drive recently. In the last few months I've used Dropbox only a few times, for exactly this.

In a month when I have more time I'll get around to remove Dropbox from all my devices, finding a simple (possibly commandline accessible) temporary file hosting service somewhere and once iOS/macOS addes shared folders in fall Drobox's last features will be obsolete for me.

[Ogilthorp]

Update after a few weeks of using pCloud - it's quick...very quick.  As I'm sure others have noticed with DB, there would be completely random times when it would begin syncing 1mm+ files for no apparent reason.  Have had 0 of that with pcloud.  Every time I look up in the status bar I just see a big checkmark indicating everything is synced.  Check the laptop and everything's there.  All I want.

Another unintended, albeit funny, benefit is that my electricity bill has actually gone down due to my computer not being a space heater most of the day.  When Dropbox is syncing, it's pegging my CPU for everything it has and my air conditioning was running all day.  I've been monitoring my activity processes with pCloud and I hardly ever see it using any resources.  Before with DB it would consistently be at 117% - all day long.

Maybe we can get Dropbox's attention by coming at this from the eco-friendly angle...

But I don't care anymore - I'm done with DB.

[Eric G.11]

All the poeple talking about pCloud. I downloaded it and ignoring the folder is not that simple.

You can't just ignore a file that is in your pCloud drive. It HAS to be a local folder that you set to sync with pCloud. Thats first of all. Then you can choose to ignore a pattern within the synced folder. This means you need to be working on a local copy outside of the pCloud drive.

Then if you want to continue working on another computer im guessing you havw to take it out of the cloud and sync this one back also. 

Its not simple...