Couln't download. Remove incompatible characters from the filename

[Dimples]

Recently all of my computer with Dropbox have started showing a sync error "Couln't download. Remove incompatible characters from the filename. e.g. emojis, /\"<>:|?*"

The problem filename isn't shown, the "Go to File" link just takes me to the root directory of my drive, and I obviously can't search for those bad characters.  How do I find this file to solve the sync issue?

[hzee]

I'm getting sync errors, but not sure why.

Presumably it's because of the ~ character at the end. (This character is fairly common in the Unix world as they are created by apps like emacs as backup copies of the previous version of a file that's been changed.)

It's not 100% clear since ~ isn't listed in the character examples.

More importantly, how do I fix this?  How can I exclude these files, e.g. with wildcard rules, from having Dropbox try to sync them?

I don't want to keep getting sync errors every day.

Dropbox v189.3.8308 (beta)

macOS 13.6.2 (Ventura, ARM)

[Mark]

Hi @hzee 

To fix you need to rename the file to remove it I'm afraid. 

There are no wildcard / optouts etc. within Dropbox to not sync certain characters

[hzee]

This is silly. I haven’t had this problem for 15 years and now Dropbox decides it’s a problem?
There once was a time when Dropbox was best-of-class. At this point Dropbox is just running out of advantages over Google Drive.
It’s been a good run, but time to say adieu.

[Megan]

Hi @hzee, thanks for posting here! 

It seems that other than the tilde character at the end of the file name, you're also using our beta version 189.3.8308. 

Just as a test, and to check more on this: would you mind renaming the file name through the web, to see if it then syncs without an issue?

I'll be waiting for your results!

[hzee]

If I remove the ~ character, the sync works just fine.

The ~ character blocks the sync and triggers daily errors in my macOS menubar.

This happens in both cases: the file is created on my MacBook and the file is created in the web app.

Yes, I hope that you can take that as feedback for the beta developers.
There's nothing special about the ~ character.  It causes no problems with any OS or system. So it should not cause errors.

[Megan]

Hi @hzee, definitely keeping a note of this! 

Your comments on syncing and how it works in this particular case have been quite helpful, and I will do everything I can to ensure that your voice is heard.

I'll forward your feedback to the appropriate areas so we can continue to improve. Thanks!

[VFRBoy]

so it's late 2023 and I just had to rename 9 files which have been in our Dropbox for years. Why did this come up today? 

Anyway, we're moving to OneDrive / SharePoint which is included in out Microsoft subscription, and saving over $1,000/year by ditching Dropbox

[ngtr]

DROPBOX THIS IS A CLEAR REGRESSION BUG THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM AND NEEDS TO BE FIXED, in my case there are no illegal characters in my filenames, Dropbox the software is wrong and bugged, FIX IT!!!

Dropbox is on a downward spiral and getting worse and worse. Time to evaluate alternatives that work better.

[NanoExplorer]

I have about 200 files with tildes in them, and like @hzee they haven't caused any problems until today. I'm on 189.4.8395, also on Mac arm 13.6.2. Among these new errors are a couple other files that start with a dot and end in '.swp' like '.test.swp'.

Also, I noticed that dot is listed among the special characters that are not allowed in file names. I hope that doesn't mean all my files with multiple dots will cause problems in the future.

[mpops]

Yep, It's been years and suddenly the bug is back.  Same bug.  FIX IT DROPBOX!