cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Announcements
Want to learn some quick and useful tips to make your day easier? Check out how Calvin uses Replay to get feedback from other teams at Dropbox here.

View, download, and export

Need support with viewing, downloading, and exporting files and folders from your Dropbox account? Find help from the Dropbox Community.

cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Re: Only want to sync specific folders on my other device

Only want to sync specific folders on my other device

kmeadows
Helpful | Level 5

I have all my files in Dropbox on my PC. I want to "some" of them, not all of them on my laptop. When I downloaded Dropbox on the laptop, I ended with "all" files on the laptop.

Can someone please let me know how to remove those files I don't want on the laptop? Or do I have to start all over? And then if I have to start all over, how do I only get the files I want?

Thank you!

6 Replies 6

Daphne
Dropbox Staff
Hey there @kmeadows,
 
If you want to remove some of the folders from your computer but keep them in your account online, I’d suggest using Selective sync. This will allow you to choose folders that you don’t want to sync down to your desktop folder and they will be available via your account online. You can update these settings at anytime with these steps:
 
  1. Click the Dropbox icon from the system tray/menu bar.
  2. Click the gear icon in the top right. 
  3. Select Preferences… from the menu.
  4. Click on the Sync tab
  5. Click on Selective Sync...
  6. Uncheck any folders you want to be removed from your device.
 
Hope this helps - Thanks!

Daphne
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, please give it a Like below.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Tips & Tricks Find new ways to stay in flow or share your tips on how you work smarter with Dropbox.

kmeadows
Helpful | Level 5

Thank you. I saw that option but what I really want is to keep local access on my PC for all files. And only have the 2 main files (or folders, not sure of correct name) on my laptop.

Can you help with this?

lingarajbv
Explorer | Level 4

 

 

Please explain me once again the below lines, as I did not understand here what you are trying to achieve? I am happy to help 🙂

"Is to keep local access on my PC for all files. And only have the 2 main files (or folders, not sure of correct name) on my laptop" ?

Based on my understanding, I think what you want is, to automatically download all folders and files on your PC, while you have Dropbox (on PC) connected to internet?

Remember: All the folders and files that you have selected under “Selective Sync” will get automated synced based on most recent change. (These Below folders/files having right mark in Green)

Screenshot 2019-06-12 22.04.34.png
And, when you uncheck any folder from that list, it will only be deleted from Dropbox folder on your PC and will never be deleted on the cloud. And, when you try to delete any file/folder that is checked under “Selective Sync”, by default should prompt a warning like in this picture below (unless you have made changes to settings).

Screenshot 2019-06-12 21.43.12.pngAdvise: Please play with the settings, by creating a dummy folder and a dummy file under it and then by deleting them later. It surely will resolve your doubts.

Do keep me posted here if you wanted to know anything that I might know, You are welcome. 🙂

Daphne
Dropbox Staff
Hey again @kmeadows,
 
You can apply different selective sync settings on different devices. So you can apply selective sync to folders on your laptop, so that only certain folder in your Dropbox account sync to the Dropbox folder.
 
On your PC you can simply leave the desktop app settings as they are and all your Dropbox account content will stay local in your Dropbox folder.
 
I hope this clarifies the matter, let me know if this is what you wanted to achieve - Cheers! 

Daphne
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, please give it a Like below.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Tips & Tricks Find new ways to stay in flow or share your tips on how you work smarter with Dropbox.

kmeadows
Helpful | Level 5

Nope. I don't want my old files accessable on my laptop at all. I ended up sending myself a link to "share" the files. I opened the link on the laptop and now have access. But I think the problem will be that the files are still just in the cloud and not actually downloaded to my laptop where I can access them easily. 

How do you upload a photo or document that is only on the cloud, not on your local laptop to something like a website that I am creating???

Daphne
Dropbox Staff
 
If you want to have the files accessible locally on your laptop, you could create a specific folder on the Laptop and choose to have only that one syncing to your Laptop and none of your other folders in your account. You can do this through your selective sync settings. Alternatively, you can use the website to access and manage your Dropbox files on that device.
 
Selecting files that are not locally on your device is up to the discretion of the website you’re uploading to, so whether or not you have created the functionality to select files that are stored within another service. If you need to upload files from a local location, perhaps as a work around you can download the file from your Dropbox account online then upload to the website.
 
Hope this helps to clarify the matter - Thanks!

Daphne
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


Heart Did this post help you? If so, please give it a Like below.
:arrows_counterclockwise: Still stuck? Ask me a question!
:pushpin: Tips & Tricks Find new ways to stay in flow or share your tips on how you work smarter with Dropbox.

Need more support?