I'm receiving an error message when trying to re-sync a selectively synced folder, any ideas?

[RogerBenson]

A few months ago, I had to do a restore of my laptop from a recent backup. Afterwards, Dropbox was grinding through a massive amount of files, so I turned off the sync for my photography image archive to let it catch up with the rest. Naturally, I promptly forgot about it.

Yesterday, I noticed that I hadn't turned it back on yet, so I selected that folder and went to bed. This morning, anticipating it was still working it's way through the folder, I got the Selective Sync error that the folder already existed and it wouldn't sync unless I either renamed or deleted it, either way it was going to start uploading from zero again.

The file structure, names, permissions, etc. haven't changed in any meaningful way and only a few new directories have been added with new images. Machine to machine, this is a simple rsync, with the ignore existing file option active. Can't dropbox do a resync?

[Daphne]

Hey there @RogerBenson,

Would you mind sending us a screenshot of that error you're receiving there?

When you selectively synced this photography folder to not be present on your computer, did you then create a new folder in the same location with the same name? If so, from what you've described this folder in the Dropbox folder on your computer should appear with a grey minus sign next to it. 

It sounds like you're experiencing a selective sync conflict, so can you let me know if the new additions added via the desktop folder are also present in your account online?

Let me know what you find - Thanks!

[RogerBenson]

I think I may be saying the wrong thing here. I didn't selectively sync the folder so it wouldn't be on my computer, I deselected it for syncing because Dropbox was trying to do a full resync of everything. I stopped it from trying to sync my photography folder again (called OneDrive, because I didn't want to do any restructuring after I stopped using O365) until it finished with everything else. It was killing my CPU and bandwidth, for days, it's 888GB.

Also, the OneDrive directory is a top level directory under the Dropbox folder, with no shortcuts or symlinks.

I've been checking the files and directory structure, there are very minor changes, nothing that I see that could trigger Dropbox to think this is something totally new.

And here's the specific error.

[Daphne]

Hey @RogerBenson,

I'm not 100% as to what you're referring to when you mentioned deselecting the folder for syncing, as selective sync is the only feature that would allow this. Just to make sure we're on the same page, can you please open up the selective sync settings and let me know if the folder "OneDrive" is currently selected or not? You can access these settings with these steps:

1. Click the Dropbox icon in your menu bar.
2. Click the profile pic/initials icon in the top right corner of the window.
3. Choose Preferences...
4. Go to the Sync tab and click "Selective sync..."

Let me know what you find - Thanks!

[RogerBenson]

When I restored my laptop, I originally had all my Dropbox folders selected but syncing everything consumed excessive CPU cycles, to the point I couldn't work on anything. I deselected it under Selective Sync and it's been that way since, only for the CPU issue.

I want to start syncing OneDrive again, but without Dropbox resyncing files that already exist in that folder online.

[Daphne]

Hey @RogerBenson,

Thanks for that screenshot! So what I can see so far is that this folder has been chosen not to sync to your desktop Dropbox folder through these settings, but you also have a copy of the folder locally in the Dropbox folder, is that right?

What I would recommend to do would be to move the "OneDrive" folder currently on your desktop temporarily outside of the Dropbox folder. Then, you can go back to the selective sync settings and check the "OneDrive" folder so that it will sync to the desktop. 

Once you've applied this setting and the app starts to sync, you can pause the syncing of the desktop app. Then, you can copy the local "OneDrive" folder back into the Dropbox folder. I highly recommend copying rather than moving here just to ensure that, should the folder version overwrite the desktop version instead of uploading the additions you made, you will have another copy that you can fall back on. The app should be able to read the latest changes occurred via the desktop app but lets stay on the safe side! 

You can then resume the syncing and the desktop app should then index the files by checking they are the same online and in the Dropbox folder, and only sync any changes.

Let me know how it goes - Thanks!

[RogerBenson]

Thank you Daphne. I've managed to move things around so I have a separate copy of the files and turned sync back on.  So far, it appears to be doing it's thing.

Are there any log files created so I can see what's actually happening?

Thanks!

Roger

[Daphne]

Hey @RogerBenson,

I'm glad to hear it's going well so far!

With syncing there isn't any log files as such, however you can keep an eye on the process by checking on your sync status. You can see this by clicking the Dropbox icon in your menu bar.

This is where you will see any error messages, what is currently syncing and how much is left to sync. Once the status is showing "Up to date" you should be good to go!

I hope this info helps - Thanks!

[RogerBenson]

Thanks. It's still working it's way through things, but unlike before, the CPU isn't pegging.

If I could put in a feature request, the option to write to the OS log file would be great with default being "Notification Only" and a "Verbose" for troubleshooting.

[Daphne]

Hey @RogerBenson,

I'll make sure to pass that along to our dev team for review!

In the meantime, perhaps for any future troubleshooting of syncing issues, you can check for any syncing issues by:

1. Click the Dropbox icon in your menu bar.
2. Click the profile pic/initials icon in the top right of the window.
3. Choose "View Sync Issues" from the menu.

Have a great day - Thanks!