files to sync first?

g v. · ‎12-29-2017

Hi,

I don't mind dropbox taking a long time in the morning syncing all my files, but there are a couple files of less than a MB each that I'd like it to sync first. They are in the Apps folder. Is there a way to tell dropbox to sync these first, maybe by putting them into a special "sync first"folder?

thanks

Mark · ‎12-29-2017

Dropbox uploads in size order - from smallest to largest. This is also across all directories within your Dropbox folder structure. So while it would be possible to make it upload in that order it would be quite difficult and time consuming to do so

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Chris_J · ‎12-29-2017

Maybe it's indexing instead of syncing ?? I wouldn't quit then back up again as it seems to be needing to do this again. Is this the first time syncing these files? if so, I feel for you. You will have to let it do its job. It will get faster as the smaller files are taking time to sync. We all users find that the initial sync is painful. Buts the beauty of Dropbox is the simplest way to sync in normal traffic. I've used DB for over 5 years both at home and at work and its been a very solid service. I had about 2 initial syncs when I didn't make a backup of files and had to sync 78 GB worth of stuff and it was painful. Just have a little more patience. 🙂

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Chris_J · ‎12-30-2017

Thanks for the update. I was thinking earlier about some experiences that I have. It might be possible that you have permissions issues. Check this article out:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/syncing-uploads/stuck-syncing

https://www.dropbox.com/help/syncing-uploads/files-update-issues

Mac

Quit Dropbox by clicking on the Dropbox icon from the menu bar, clicking on the gear icon, and selecting Quit Dropbox from the pop-up menu.
Open your Terminal app (located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal).
Copy and paste the following lines into the Terminal, one at a time, and press Return after each one.
- Don't type commands by hand.
- You'll be prompted for your computer user's password (not your Dropbox password) after entering the first command. Keep in mind that the password field in the terminal will remain blank as you type your password. After you type it, just press Return.
- Important: We assume that your Dropbox folder is in the default pathway. If you have placed your Dropbox folder in a custom location, replace all ~/Dropbox with the full location of your Dropbox folder in quotation marks. For example, if you have your Dropbox folder in the path /Volumes/DifferentPlace/Dropbox, you need to replace ~/Dropboxfrom the following instructions to "https://www.dropbox.com/Volumes/DifferentPlace/Dropbox".

sudo chflags -R nouchg ~/Dropbox ~/.dropbox
sudo chown "$USER" "$HOME"
sudo chown -R "$USER" ~/Dropbox ~/.dropbox
sudo chmod -RN ~/.dropbox ~/Dropbox
chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox ~/.dropbox

Windows

Quit Dropbox by clicking on the Dropbox icon in the system tray, clicking the gear icon in the notifications panel, and selecting Exit Dropbox from the menu.
Press the Windows Key + R (at the same time), then type cmd and press Enter to open the command prompt.
Copy and paste the following lines into the command prompt, one at a time, and press Enterafter each one. Please make sure you copy and paste these commands (don't type them by hand), as getting them wrong could cause some harm. Also, you can only paste them by right-clicking and selecting Paste.
```
icacls "%HOMEPATH%\Dropbox" /grant "%USERNAME%":(F) /T
icacls "%APPDATA%\Dropbox" /grant "%USERNAME%":(F) /T
icacls "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Dropbox" /grant "%USERNAME%":F /T
icacls "%PROGRAMFILES%\Dropbox" /grant "%USERNAME%":F /T
```
If the location of Dropbox folder is not C:\Users\YourUser\Dropbox path, please modify the first command to point to it. For example, if your Dropbox is in D:\Dropbox, the command would look as follows:
```
icacls "D:\Dropbox" /grant "%USERNAME%":(F) /T			
```
The other commands should remain unchanged. Please note that, depending on the size of your Dropbox, this operation might take some time to complete, so wait for the C:\ prompt to appear again.
Restart Dropbox by going to the Start menu and selecting Program Files, then Dropbox.

Note: If you don't see a Dropbox option under Program Files, you will need to restart Dropbox by entering %APPDATA%\Dropbox into the Windows Explorer window and double clicking Dropbox.exe

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g v. · ‎01-02-2018

Hi Chris,

Happy 2018.

sync was done the same evening at 9 pm. Dont know why it got off initially, but hope it was the Sierra installation. The things done are changing the permissions (sudo chmod... set of command lines in terminal), unlinking and relinking the dropbox, having dropbox at default location, and keeping the network open in Systems Prefs > Energy Saver > Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when display is off. It took 6 hours on 800 Mbps up and download speed with everything already being there in dropbox and dropbox having 335 GB to sync or re-link with already downloaded documents. Next time I'll get a ticket right away.

thanks for helping out!

View solution in original post

Chris_J · ‎12-29-2017

Sorry, there is no such feature. Dropbox Client determines the order for uploading

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if this works and it was a solution, please click on Accept as Solution. Also clicking on Likes would be super. Thanks!

g v. · ‎12-29-2017

according to what criteria does Dropbox Client choose? can I use its system to make my files so it fits the criteria?

thanks

Mark · ‎12-29-2017

Dropbox uploads in size order - from smallest to largest. This is also across all directories within your Dropbox folder structure. So while it would be possible to make it upload in that order it would be quite difficult and time consuming to do so

- - - -

Did this post help you? If so please mark it for some Kudos below.

Did this post fix your issue/answer your question? If so please press the 'Accept as Solution' button to help others find it.

Did this post not resolve your issue? If so please give us some more information so we can try and help - please remember we cannot see over your shoulder so be as descriptive as possible!

g v. · ‎12-29-2017

ok that would work, thanks. so by keeping those essential files small, splitting them up if possible, I'd make things better.

Also I just cleared the cache again, I think it's stuck. that one file is less than a MB and I have already unlinked this dropbox and signed back in and it's still not synced 5 hours after that. I had hoped I could force the essential files through even if it needs to chew at some other things. Maybe I should uninstall the app and reinstall? not sure.

I do need the larger things on my computer, it's shared folders, so this new selective sync isn't an option. The whole thing is about 250 GB, a quarter of my dropbox space.

Chris_J · ‎12-29-2017

its sounds like you may have internet issues. Here is a Help Center Article that you might find informative: https://www.dropbox.com/help/syncing-uploads/sync-speed-external-factors

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if this works and it was a solution, please click on Accept as Solution. Also clicking on Likes would be super. Thanks!

g v. · ‎12-29-2017

800 MBPS up and 800 down (ookla) from this computer where dropbox is having trouble. No other apps using network (apart from mac calendar to icloud but no complaints there), no downloads running.

Chris_J · ‎12-29-2017

That's pretty good speed. In Preferences when you click on your Dropbox icon in system tray and click on the gear icon, under the Bandwidth tab, you can make sure there is no limit.

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if this works and it was a solution, please click on Accept as Solution. Also clicking on Likes would be super. Thanks!

g v. · ‎12-29-2017

ok I put uploads from Limit Automatically to No limit for now

(but can't leave this, icloud gets really offended and wants all my account passwords at once if it doesn't get some bandwidth)

also found that this one file that wouldn't sync [there are several but that's the important one] had a red cross meanwhile and moved it out of the Dropbox folder. That was about 15 mins ago. When clicking on the menu bar icon so the controls open and then hovering over the menu bar icon a bit, it says that it is ~~downloading~~ indexing some 88000 files (getting fewer over time) and uploading this one file with the red cross that should be gone.

Maybe then I'd quit dropbox so it notices the file isn't there any more?

Chris_J · ‎12-29-2017

Maybe it's indexing instead of syncing ?? I wouldn't quit then back up again as it seems to be needing to do this again. Is this the first time syncing these files? if so, I feel for you. You will have to let it do its job. It will get faster as the smaller files are taking time to sync. We all users find that the initial sync is painful. Buts the beauty of Dropbox is the simplest way to sync in normal traffic. I've used DB for over 5 years both at home and at work and its been a very solid service. I had about 2 initial syncs when I didn't make a backup of files and had to sync 78 GB worth of stuff and it was painful. Just have a little more patience. 🙂

-------------------------

if this works and it was a solution, please click on Accept as Solution. Also clicking on Likes would be super. Thanks!

files to sync first?

files to sync first?

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