How can I stop the download of files in the Dropbox desktop application?

[jennfabu]

How do I stop a download in progress? DB is trying to download 175K files to my laptop that I don't have room for. I have marked all folders as ONLINE only, but the download is still happening. The only options I see on DB are to pause or resume syncing. NONE of the folders I have marked have been removed. I'm thinking because this happened after this huge download started. How do I get it to cancel the sync and delete the folders? 

Jenn

[Jay]

Hi @jennfabu, thanks for posting on the Community!

You can pause the Dropbox desktop application by following the steps here. Alternatively, you could simply quit the app entirely.

However, are the files actually being downloaded, or are these the online-only placeholders that are downloading to your machine? If so, they won’t take up a lot of space on the machine.

Keep me posted!

[jennfabu]

Hey Jay!

Thanks for the response. I know how to pause a sync. I don't need to pause the sync. I need to cancel it permanently. I have deleted to folder with all the files from my online dropbox and my computer where it is trying to download. the file has also been removed from dropbox on the other devices linked to the account. I restarted my computer and the download began again... 150K+ files trying to download that will take 2+ days. 

This is all further complicated because I live in a rural area and have satellite internet which GREATLY limits speed and available data... this is going to take all my data for the month plus some and has virtually made my laptop unusable. I need to cancel the download from ever happening... will I need to uninstall and reinstall dropbox to make that happen?

Thanks!

jenn

[Jay]

If the files have been deleted from the site and the local machine (as well as the other machines linked to your account), then there shouldn't be anything to sync.

However, the Dropbox desktop application would still need to re-index the local folder to confirm what files are actually there, this shouldn't require theactual downloading of files. Uninstalling and reinstalling the app would have the same effect.