Dropbox keeps trying to download and sync files set to online only

[Rachel L.]

I had this same issue with a particular folder when I first set up my new Windows 10 laptop, but closing and restarting Dropbox seemed to fix it. (Derp.)

Today it randomly started trying to download/sync a few zip files I set to online only. I set them to online only again; then, since my computer has been indexing files for over a week now, decided to exclude my online only folders from being indexed, thinking maybe that was the cause of all the indexing. As soon as I did this, it started trying to download/sync those zip files again! I again set them to online only, exited and restarted Dropbox...but then Dropbox got stuck in a cycle of syncing, syncing, syncing a different, online-only folder. It has 32 files in it and Dropbox kept saying, "Syncing 32 files...31 files...32 files...31 files...32 files..." like it kept starting over and over and over. This laptop has an SSD and the files are small so it should have been almost instantaneous.

I exited Dropbox and restarted my computer this time, to boot. Looking in the Dropbox folder, I see individual files set to online only (including those zip files) are marked with an X but none of the folders are, which puzzles me. Restarting Dropbox now...

Okay, nothing is happening yet (except the endless indexing). Still, what could be causing this? Why does Smart Sync keep trying to sync and download things set to online only and is there a fix if it gets stuck in that syncing loop again?

...Wait, crud, I found another online folder had changed its setting (though not the files' setting) to local. Ugh! Changed it back...Dropbox said it was doing something with a bunch of files but now it's up to date again and the folder is again online only. So weird.

And now the number of indexed items is suddenly a lot different! 92,000 odd! (I believe it was around 205,000 before.)

Dropbox desktop application 109.4.517, Windows 10 Home v.1909, build 18363.1198.

[Rachel L.]

@Lusil I looked at the suggestions provided in the help ticket answer and none of them are useful. It's all advice I was already given about checking my antivirus software, any programs that may be trying to access the files (I wouldn't know what, I thought it was Windows Explorer but what's happening right now shows it isn't--all I did this time was restart the computer and Dropbox and it resumed downloading online-only files), backup services (I only use Dropbox), third-party apps that check files (I don't know of any). I was instructed to right click and make files online only...it's literally not letting me do that (I select online only over and over and over without luck), plus I have to open Windows Explorer or the Dropbox app to do so, and that makes files start downloading again. I don't have any other ideas to try. It's currently downloading tens of thousands of files and the Dropbox app itself won't let me smart sync them. I use Trend Micro antivirus but I don't know how that would affect it since I'm not running a virus scan when this happens.

I pay for this service so I wish that it would work the way it's supposed to. 😞

[Rachel L.]

*deepbreath*

So all right, when Dropbox finally finished downloading/syncing those thousands of files, I realized it had NOT actually downloaded them, it just said it was. So I'm more confused than ever. When it finished, those folders were again marked as "Online only" in the Dropbox app (which it had not allowed me to change while they were "downloading"). I turned Dropbox off and viewed the problem folders in File Explorer (that's what I meant by Windows Explorer, sorry) and indeed, the files are all X'ed out in both the folders that acted up.

(Additionally, Dropbox made two folders I HAD set to be stored locally online only, so I changed the setting on those once I started the app up again. I haven't checked to see if they're actually stored locally...I'm scared to open File Explorer again.)

On a whim, I went into the Windows indexing settings to make sure all the folders I want online only are set to be ignored by indexing. And the two problem folders were NOT unselected to be indexed. I don't understand that, they WERE unselected before. I unselected them again. I don't know if this is related or not, since that single e-book file that started giving me problems yesterday is in a folder that's still unselected. (That file keeps trying to download and failing; I get a Windows notification for this one, but not for the others. That problem file DOES seem to be directly related to opening File Explorer.)

So...I don't know what's going on. Dropbox saying it's downloading and indexing thousands of online-only files...but not actually doing so? Possibly related to File Explorer and/or the Dropbox app, and/or Windows indexing...I don't know.

Unfortunately I sent off a hysterical help ticket already. In it I redirected them to this thread and my previous help ticket, so I'm not sure if they'll see this update.

I currently have the app open but am too scared to open File Explorer lest I start something happening again. I feel I'm going to have to just keep Dropbox turned off all the time except right when I back up my few files nightly, then turn it back off. Which is disappointing but I don't want to freak out the app like that again. 😕

[Rachel L.]

"As of January 17, 2022, the Dropbox desktop app will only support File Explorer and the taskbar on Windows and Finder and the menu bar on Macs."

Given this news, I sure hope my issue with Dropbox weirdly attempting (but failing) to download all my online-only files every time I open up Windows File Explorer while Dropbox is running has been resolved. Never opening File Explorer while Dropbox is running is the only way I've found to avoid this problem, and I seem to be the only user who has it. 😕

[Rachel L.]

I just remembered the reason that getting rid of the desktop app will be so troublesome for me. It was the only way I could safely mark folders to save to online only without everything trying to start downloading to my hard drive. If Dropbox is running while I open Windows File Explorer--the only location left where I'll be able to sync folders like this--the problem is going to recur. The only way I've found to avoid it is to turn off Dropbox while using File Explorer, and close File Explorer while using Dropbox.

Now if I want to sync certain folders online only, I have no other options. 😞

[Rachel L.]

Well...after a while of working okay, it's starting this crap again, trying over and over and over and over to download files that I keep marking as ONLINE ONLY over and over and over and over! Except this time, I need to use Windows File Explorer to deal with my Dropbox files, so there's no way for me to avoid triggering this issue.

Why can't this be fixed after such a long period of time? Or at least pinpoint what's causing the conflict? I find it difficult to believe I'm the only user dealing with this. 😞

[Rachel L.]

Experiencing this yet again after downloading some more files and then setting them to online only, I think I might...MIGHT...have figured out what's causing it: File Explorer's "recent files" list.

Every time I opened a new instance of File Explorer and went to the Quick Access, where recently used/opened files show up--in this case, the recently downloaded files--they started trying to download and open. When I navigated away from here and turned them online only again, the behavior stopped. Did it again when I again navigated to the recently used items, stopped again when I navigated away. Quick Access and recent files are what show up by default when I open File Manager, so that would explain why opening up File Manager seemed to cause the problem.

I opened up a bunch of local files and closed them again to "wipe off" the online-only files from the recent files list, and navigated back to it. Nothing tried downloading.

Granted...this doesn't explain my earlier experiences where Dropbox would just of its own volition start randomly trying to download stuff at particular times of particular days. So, I don't know that this is the ONLY answer, just that it might be the answer for the most RECENT behavior. But I'm not entirely positive. Rather scared to keep poking around to find out. (I just want my files to behave.)

Googling old threads with similar subjects suggests recent file lists can cause problems with Dropbox wanting to download online-only stuff, even when you have your preview screen turned off and are not opening, indexing, or virus-scanning the files (I tried all of that long ago). I don't remember recent file lists being suggested as a solution to my problem, though. 😕 Maybe I missed it.

[Rachel L.]

Well...so much for that theory. Held up for about a day. Now today while downloading some new e-book files and one music album, Dropbox started trying to download and open a random music file which is nowhere in the recent files list. (I had to search my online-only files to see what it was even trying to download. Can't even be sure whether it succeeded or not.)

EDIT, and now that I've resumed trying to upload the e-books in question, the Dropbox status says it's still downloading random music files as well. None of them in the recent files.

Really, really wish this would be fixed, whatever it is. Sigh.

[Rachel L.]

Dropbox was successfully downloading online-only MP3 files that I had not recently accessed, so I have no idea why it was targeting them. It was downloading so many of these, it was holding up my upload of e-books.

I found the folder these files were located in and first tried setting the individual album folders to online only, but they kept redownloading. Then just did the whole folder even though I hadn't planned to do that yet, since I'd added ONE new album folder today. This is all I can think of, this one new folder added to the online only folder. But this folder was still marked as local (so it didn't need to redownload), and everything else as online only, so why would it affect the other files? (For comparison, the local e-books I'm uploading today aren't trying to make the rest of the online-only files in that folder redownload!)

I opened a bunch of unrelated files like I did the other day to clear anything new off the recent files list anyway, including the one local music folder. That seemed to solve the issue--the main folder went online only, stopped trying to sync, got back to my e-book uploads.

But just as I was typing this, something from that folder started trying to download again and I had to cancel it. NO FILES FROM THIS FOLDER ARE IN THE RECENT FILES LIST! I JUST cleared it to make sure of that!

This is driving me crazy, what is left that could be triggering these downloads?

(EDIT, happened yet AGAIN when I opened up an unrelated folder in File Explorer. There is NO link to this problem folder in the lefthand side where it shows recent folders, and yesterday, that part of the screen didn't trigger anything anyway, it was only the Recent Files page. I'm not going anywhere near the Recent Files page. So I think it's still File Explorer triggering this but I just can't for the life of me figure out how or why.)

If simply opening a folder in File Explorer now triggers stuff to start downloading--how are we supposed to mark things as online only??

God I wish Dropbox hadn't gotten rid of the desktop app, that was my ONLY way to avoid this issue. 😢

[Rachel L.]

Nope...it's not File Explorer. I closed it. And it started trying to download something again. EDIT: And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. (Each of these "agains" is a time it tried doing it over and I had to again stop it. I was NOT interacting with the folder when these happened, was just trying to watch the upload/sync progress in the Dropbox taskbar popup.)

By now I have to keep File Explorer open just so I can keep telling it to make this folder online only and try to stop the downloads, when keeping it open might be exacerbating the problem (though it's obviously not THE cause, since THIS HAPPENS WHEN FILE EXPLORER ISN'T OPEN, TOO). My upload is significantly slowed down because of all this.

So this theory, the Recent Files list being the culprit, is completely busted. I don't know what's causing this and it's extremely frustrating. This app is broken.

EDIT: Every time I have to make this unrelated folder online only, it RESETS MY CURRENT UPLOAD to start all over again! It is LITERALLY slowing down my uploads! 😡

EDIT: Finally finished my upload. Navigated to the folder the problem subfolder is in. Again, NONE of this stuff is in the recent file list, but as soon as I went into the folder in question, everything started trying to download again. I had to set it to online only over and over and over before it finally took somehow.

OPENING THE FOLDER THE PROBLEM SUBFOLDER IS IN TRIGGERS IT TO START DOWNLOADING. YET THIS IS THE *ONLY* WAY I CAN SET FOLDERS TO ONLINE ONLY. What is the solution to this?

[Rachel L.]

An unrelated issue where a user is also suggesting some fundamental disconnect/incompatibility between Windows 10 File Explorer and Dropbox:

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-files-folders/Thumbnail-photos-not-showing-in-Dropbox/m-p/59...

The only, ONLY, conclusion I've been able to reach about my current issue is that it started when I began using this computer...my first Windows 10 computer. Everything else is iffy/sporadic and can't be replicated right, but I do still believe it's connected to File Explorer...I just don't understand why it would still act up when File Explorer isn't open/active. It's like every time I find a way to avoid the issue, the issue adapts and finds another way to act up. Previously I'd avoid opening File Explorer while using Dropbox (even though that's not always possible)...now it acts up even when File Explorer isn't open!

I've made sure the folders in question aren't being indexed. Cleared the items in question from the Recent Files list. (Even the folder they're in isn't showing up there.) Turned off previews. Tried staying out of the folders in question while backing up other files (though I shouldn't have to do this, how else do I mark things local or online only??). Even tried avoiding File Explorer entirely, though much of the time, this isn't possible, for obvious reasons, especially since the desktop app was discontinued. Don't have any other third-party programs accessing the files, that I'm aware of. The files trying to download most recently are music files which I haven't accessed in weeks/months; previously, it was e-books. Only thing I haven't tried is turning off my antivirus software, which is NOT scanning at the time I do these things. I shouldn't have to disable my computer's protection to get Dropbox to sync properly, especially since this wasn't an issue before Windows 10. (The other threads I've read hint that this solution doesn't work, anyway.) I'm actually getting anxiety issues regarding when I'll next need to start up the program to back up my files because will it try downloading everything again?

I think I may need to restart this thread since I've been talking to myself in it for quite a while now with no further solutions; browsing all the similar threads I can find, I see nothing new that I can try (though I do see that those threads were posted around late summer/early autumn 2020, just like mine). I can't exactly disable File Explorer. 😕 I'm paying to use the service, so it could at least work properly.