Request: All files available offline by default

[Tim T.13]

Moving the Mac to the new File Provider is great - very happy this is finally happening and support on the new M1 is much better. Kudos!

Feature request: Really miss the feature to have Dropbox default to making all files downloaded and available for offline open/save. I will always, 100% of the time, want Dropbox to keep all my selected-to-sync files to also be downloaded and available for offline use. 

I know you can right-click to request offline availability, but this creates a bit of an unclear situation as you can't see by looking at a file in Finder whether it is supposed to be offline available or not.  I want this to just be the way Dropbox works.

Since there is the option to do this on a per file / folder basis using right-click, seems likely possible for Dropbox to make this effectively on-by-default for every file, with the user doing the gesture. 

[LivePaola]

Hi. I am having the same issue but cannot find Dropbox in "Locations" or "Cloudstorage". I am on MacOS Monterey 12.6.3, where Dropbox only appears in "Applications", and right-clicking on it does not surface the Dropbox menu with the desired option, but only the usual MacOS menu as for any other item. How can we have our offline files by default back?

[bhunt01]

@LivePaola 

See https://help.dropbox.com/installs/locate-dropbox-folder for instructions on how to find your Dropbox folder location. In particular look at "How to programmatically find Dropbox folder paths" - expand the macOS section. Note to find files and folders prefixed with . (these are normally hidden) you will need to toggle them into view with "command + shift + . (period))" The same sequence will rehide them once you are done. 

[LivePaola]

@bhunt01, thank you for that trick. It seems to be working. My Mac seems now to be updating its 55,000 files... fingers crossed! 

Hopefully this will provide a lasting solution. I'm not superconfident since the answer I had from Dropbox Support was "as part of the new upgrade for the desktop application to be compliant with the new security processes with macOS, the option to make all syncing available offline has been removed" - they suggest making files and folders available offline manually, one by one. So I live in fear of the option going away for good. 

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it!

[Bejoy]

This worked for me - thankyou! Just right-clicked the root folder and clicked 'make available offline'. That said, it's very strange that we need this extra step. Once you've decided to sync a certain folder with your device, surely the default option should be to sync so it's available offline?

[stoo11]

Love the beta otherwise (M1), but this is kind of a deal breaker. I am sure the issue can be resolved easily, the developers need to look into it.

It is convenient to have the ability to selectively sync (or keep online only) the files on a device like a phone or tablet. But the whole point of having a device (like a Macbook Pro) with tons of storage is to maintain all your data locally and to be able to access it offline.

[feanne]

Oh wow thanks for posting about this. I was wondering why I was having trouble accessing my own files on my own computer. Dropbox worked perfectly for me until this TERRIBLE change in the default WHICH I WAS NOT EVEN INFORMED ABOUT. I can't believe ALL MY DROPBOX FILES ARE NOW ONLINE-ONLY BY DEFAULT AND NOW I HAVE TO DOWNLOAD EVERYTHING FROM THE CLOUD. I absolutely HATE THIS and will cancel my account ASAP.

Edit. I'm sorry for the all caps, I'm just so upset. I can't believe Dropbox moved all my files to online-only without my consent. I live in a country where the internet is slow and expensive. Dropbox used to be my choice of sync provider because of its fast and reliable block level / differential sync function. Not anymore. Goodbye Dropbox, I'm downloading all my files then getting out.

[yoyoyoyoyo27]

I'm having the same issues.  Now all of my files are online-only by default.  Selective Sync used to be all we need to manage what was local or not.  Now I'm looking for a dropbox alternative, but this completely broke the system.  Random files in all my folders now go offline, for no reason it seems. How awful.  Fix this **bleep**. 

[jdag]

Navigate to the Dropbox folder (buried in user/Library/CloudStorage/Drobox), right click, and select 'Make available offline'.

I did that a couple of months back, then had to re-do it about a week ago as I noticed some files were not showing the 'green dot' indicating offline availability.  Otherwise the functionality seems to be as in prior versions of Dropbox.

[berninidesig]

yes but... just a few minutes later these files will be online only AGAIN, forcing me to constantly click "make offline only", and sometimes blocking me to work if i try to work on the move or with poor connection because the files were moved to online-only again and again, without my consent... really frustrating making files offline before travelling (to work on a plane, for example) only to find out they were moved back online... how can I take active control over this? 

[berninidesig]

same problem here! I am considering sync.com but not sure it would solve the problem...