Mac osx - strange extra files appearing when downloading files directly.

[JefW]

Just had a strange issue with some files that I directly downloaded from our DB folders.
On the website, I went to one of my shared folders from another team member, and clicked on 2 files (illustrator) and one folder that contained several photoshop images.
I chose to direct download option and downloaded them to my desktop. They downloaded to the zip file, like usual. BUT... when I uncompressed the zip file, there was an ADDITIONAL folder named "__MACOSX" - when I opened that, there was a repeat of the same Illustrator files and the PSD folder, but the file names were changed (most had underscores in them). In addition, these files were very small in size (70 bytes for example, when they should have been 3.3MB - same thing for the PSD images they were all around 100kb or less, when they should have been several MB).
I asked my co-worker to repeat the process on his computer (different OS that what I'm using, but still on a mac) and he had the same thing happen.

Any idea's what's happening? Is this just a glitch?

I'm on an imac, running OS 10.11.6

[Daphne]

Hey there @JefW,

Can you try downloading some files from your account that are not currently shared with any other user and let me know if you see the same additional files in the .zip?

If so, can you try perhaps downloading from another browser as well as trying an incognito/private window? Also, please try clearing your browser’s cache to see if that results in a change in the behaviour.

Let me know what you find - Thanks!

[JefW]

Thanks Daphne, 
Opened up a new browser (Firefox - initial browser was Chrome), and yes same exact issue. 
Downloading files from my one user (not shared) also produced the same results.
There was no need to clear browser cache on firefox since it was the first time I've ever visited DB on that browser.
Incognito window produced the same results as well (using different files too).
Thoughts?

[Daphne]

Hey there @JefW,

So after looking into this in a bit more depth on my side, the "__MACOSX” folder contains the metadata of the files and is a “hidden folder”. This folder won’t be seen on OS X 10.13 or higher but for other operating systems you will see this hidden folder when unzipping.

I’d suggest for anymore specific info about this that it might be better to either do a quick web search or contact Apple Support perhaps, as this is an OS related behaviour rather than specifically with Dropbox they should have a better understanding.

I hope this points you in the right direction - Thanks!

[JefW]

Thank you for your time Daphne.
With respect though, I don't think this is all entirely accurate, in that I've always downloaded files directly to my system, and while I can't recall the exact date of the last time I did this, I know it would have been within the last month or so - which means it was working just a little while ago with my current OSX 10.11.6. So this tells me that it's something that Dropbox must have changed in how they zip the files. 
This will just be a frustrating glitch I guess from now on (until I can upgrade my system at some point.) 

[JefW]

One additional follow up...

I talked with my co-worker and he confirmed he's using 10.13.6, and he's having the same issue. 

[Walter]

Hey there @JefW - sorry to jump in here; I just wanted to add my two cents on this.

I went through your problem's description and I saw that you mentioned that the files in question had an underscore within their names.

I'm going to take a guess here and say that they probably include a (.) dot too - right?

If I'm correct and that's indeed the case (you're seeing '._' within your files' names), I'll need to inform you that, unfortunately the issue you're seeing is a Mac issue that occurs when copying files with extended attributes metadata into a file system that doesn't support them. Depending on the information stored in the metadata, you may or may not need these files.

These files are called AppleDouble files and more information on how to handle them can be found by searching for: "apple double files"

To avoid this issue if you have your Dropbox folder on an external drive, we recommend ensuring that the drive is formatted in the default file system format for the Operating System that is installed (those would be HFS+ or APFS for Macs). 

Formatting drives may cause data to be deleted. Please consult resources from your Operating System's manufacturer (Apple in your case) for steps and recommendations on formatting drives to a different file system. The most common default file systems are NTFS (Windows), HFS (Mac OS X) or ext4 (Linux).

Let us know if this helped please!

[JefW]

Hello Walter, 
I do thank you for taking the time to reply. I'm afraid though that it still does not seem to apply to my (and my co-workers on a different computer) situation.
We both have our DB folders on our local computers, and not on External Drives.
The issue I was describing is when I do a 'direct download' to my desktop (also not an external drive, if you're familiar with macs). And what's most important here to remember... This is only a recent problem (within the last month)... ie: in the past whenever I did the direct download I never had an issue. Now for some reason, both mine and my co-workers imac are having the same problem. 
I assure you my imac HD is properly formatted.
But I thank you for your time. 
Just to add to the puzzle, this is only when I 'direct download' to my system and unzip the compressed files. I attempted a zip and decompress with other local files and had no issues, so it's something that Dropbox is doing to the zip files.

[Walter]

Thanks for the response Jef!

Now, kindly note that Dropbox does not have the capability of changing your files in any way. 

As I mentioned, if you're indeed seeing "._" within some of your files' names, these are usually the metadata of the original files (these are hidden normally) - more information on this can be found by a mere web search with the search string "Apple's Double Files".

If you're still having issues with this, please let me know and I'll reach out to your Dropbox associated email address to work on this together.

Thanks in advance and have a lovely day until we speak again. 

[JefW]

Thanks Walter,
Well, I know this is a technicality, but if I upload 2 files, and then choose to download them directly, Dropbox compresses those files into a zip file... which is changing my original files. The process of compression is what I meant by Dropbox changing the files.

Yes, my original issue is still unanswered. Just to re-state the issue...
When I do I direct download, and then uncompress the zipped files there are these extra files showing up. 
About a week or more (month maybe) it never used to do this.
Something recently changed - And I don't think it was my system, since it is also happening on my co-workers computer.

Thanks for your time.