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39 files stuck syncing for weeks
Using the Mac version 88.4.172 of the Dropbox app on my 2015 MacBook Pro (with the latest Catalina macOS 10.15.2). Dropbox has been stuck for several weeks on 39 files syncing. I use Smart Sync for a number of folders.
These are the steps I’ve taken to try to fix this issue:
- Quit Dropbox and restarted.
- Restarted the MacBook Pro.
- Killed all Dropbox processes using Activity Monitor (force quit them). Then restarted the MacBook Pro, and restarted the Dropbox app.
- Deleted and reinstalled the Dropbox app in the normal manner.
- Deleted and reinstalled the Dropbox app using the Advance Reinstall directions at: https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/advanced-reinstall
- Checked for “bad files” — per Dropbox instructions — and got stuck using this link: https://www.dropbox.com/bad_files_check, which froze up on the Safari, Firefox and Opera browsers. This link is discussed in numerous discussions and seems to be something Dropbox has been “working on” fixing for more than a year.
- Removed all aliases in the Dropbox folder and subfolders.
- Checked for and removed all symlinks in the Dropbox folder and subfolders.
- Checked for circular arrow “syncing” symbol in the Dropbox folder and subfolders; found none. All files and folders have the green checkmark symbol.
- Looked for hidden files that might be causing issues, found none other than normal Mac “.DS_Store” files — in most folders — plus three Dropbox hidden files: “.dropbox”, “.dropbox. cache”, and “Icon?”, in the Dropbox main folder.
What else can I do?
Let's reset the configuration settings of the Dropbox desktop app.
Unlink and relink. The system will take some time to re-index your files and sync them all.
If the number of files remains stuck after this, I will create a ticket to check a few more things with you and provide the next steps.
Thank you for your patience yotimbo
37 Replies
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- Fiona
Dropbox Staff
Thanks for reporting the issue and all the steps you've tried so far yotimbo.
I appreciate your patience. It looks like you may have some files with permissions settings that block Dropbox from syncing them.
Here is what we can do now.
:pushpin: Please note that it is very important to follow these steps specifically as failure to do so may result in other issues
1) Make sure the Dropbox desktop application is running
2) Click on the Dropbox icon in your menu bar and then click on the gear in the Notifications panel
3) Select 'Preferences'
4) Click on the 'Account' tab
5) Hold down the 'Option/Alt' key
6) Click on the 'Fix Permissions' button (make sure you're still holding down the 'Option/Alt' key)
7) You may be prompted for your a username and password, this is your computer login credentials, not your Dropbox account ones
This will allow Dropbox access to your home folder, Dropbox folder, and any required settings.
Let me know if this worked for you. If not, let me know if you have your Dropbox folder or its system files are located in a mounted network drive or a remote location (like roaming profiles).
Looking forward to your response.
Hope this is helpful!
Hi Fiona -- Thank you for the quick response. The solution listed above did not change anything after the permissions were fixed. My Dropbox folder and system files are on my MacBook Pro, not on a network drive or remote location.
- Fiona
Let's reset the configuration settings of the Dropbox desktop app.
Unlink and relink. The system will take some time to re-index your files and sync them all.
If the number of files remains stuck after this, I will create a ticket to check a few more things with you and provide the next steps.
Thank you for your patience yotimbo
That did the trick. Thank you, Fiona!
- Fiona
Pleasure solving this with you.
Thanks for troubleshooting with me.
Have a nice weekend! :slight_smile:
I'm not yet using Catalina, and my Mac is a couple of years newer, but I just started having this problem too. Since I haven't upgraded my OS, I suspect it's a problem with Dropbox.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to do all the stuff yotimbo tried. And I'm currently only having problems with PowerPoint files. So, what I tried was force-quitting the application and restarting. Restarting the Mac. Taking the PowerPoint file out of Dropbox. And just opening PowerPoint without trying to open a file. In all the first steps, it just kept saying it was downloading (it wasn't) or opening (it wouldn't--except once when I could see the slides, but not do anything with them) and finally froze so that I had to force quit PowerPoint over and over. Even when I'd taken the file out of Dropbox. The file is fine. I can open it on the Dropbox website. But that doesn't do me much good as I need to edit it. When I tried to just launch PowerPoint without opening a file, I got a message that it was doing something with Smart Synching. Whatever it was, it froze the application again.Hello. I have also tried the various steps outlined above, including your suggestions Fiona. No luck - I have 10 still syncing. My files are local. (Although I turned this off for now to see if that might help). Any other suggestions? Thanks!
I should mention I have 2 uploading and 8 downloading files.... Through the unlinking process, I managed to get 6 uploading down to 2. But then that was it. I tried again, and no luck.
Mine turned out to be a PowerPoint problem. Microsoft tech support installed a new one for me. If I understood correctly, since the file wouldn't open because of the PowerPoint issue, Dropbox kept trying to download and open it. Once I got the files to open with the new ppt app, the Dropbox problem went away.
