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Re: Can't switch to online only

Can't switch to online only

ajbentley
Explorer | Level 3
Go to solution

I've got a file that's pretty big and I've put it up to dropbox with selective sync. The original version of the file is on an external hard drive. When I switched the dropbox folder to online only (click the grey cloud) it doesn't switch and it has now downloaded the contents of the folder onto this machine and it's taking up all of my space.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Joshua

32 Replies 32

Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hey there @Roth, let's see what we can find.

Many processes on your machine look at files that you may not have manually opened and, in order to fulfill these requests, Dropbox syncs the files.

If there are apps that constantly do this (such as backup services, antivirus, and other third party apps that monitor files), your files may go back to local, just as you described

For this reason, try temporarily quitting or disabling apps until you see that the issue is resolved. The last app that you closed when the issue no longer occurred may be the one performing this action.

Let me know how it goes!


Lusil
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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galatea52
New member | Level 2
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I am having the exact same problem. I have tried multiple times to switch a file and folder from local to online only. And it will just switch back. I have tried removing the files from the drop box folder then reuploading them in folder already designated to be online only, and again the file is local. I'm almost completely out of space on my hard drive and have no idea what to do. I need help resolving this. 

galatea52
New member | Level 2
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FYI - YOU APPARENTLY NEED TO "ENABLE" SMART SYNC IN PREFERENCES. NO IDEA WHY THEY WOULD SET IT UP THIS WAY, BUT NOW IT'S WORKING.

VRGTNE
New member | Level 2
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It took quite a while, but eventually the smart sync started to work. Sometimes it can take several minutes or more to sync if its a large file.

nepenthes
New member | Level 2
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@galatea52 Thank you so much!! YOU solved the problem for me. I really appreciate you posting that. I never would have guessed it - why show the option and make it look like the user can act upon it when they can't? That UX needs an update.

yes4
New member | Level 2
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@galatea52 been yelling at this for +1 hours THANK YOU. 

translateltd54
Helpful | Level 5
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I'm not even seeing Smart Sync in my preferences.  I did try the "online only" option a few months ago, and created a folder, added a file to it as a test, set it to "online only" and it reverted to "local" almost immediately.  Soon after, I couldn't see the "online only" option any longer, and still can't.  I just had a look at my preferences as suggested above, and there's no sign of it.

EDIT: I was looking in my preferences online when I wrote the above; in my local file manager I can right-click and select "online only", so have tried a few folders and will check again tomorrow to see if they've reverted again this time round.

Martin

NZ

psltracker
New member | Level 2
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I tried hard right-clicking and selecting "Online Only". but nothing changes

Hey_Ho
New member | Level 2
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Had the same problem. Dropbox seems to want to download it all, only when complete the local/online options will work. But as my dropbox contains more files than my hard drive has space, this is not an option. Tried a couple of things, this workaround worked:

- First, in preferences, select "Save hard drive space automatically". I put it to online-only, for new files.

- In preferences, go to the selective sync options and DESELECT all the folders. Click Apply.

- Wait untill all the folders from dropbox are gone from your local drive.

- Go back to the selective sync options and select all the folders you want visible on your computer. They will then be added online-only. 

...and then you can right-click on the folders to mark a few of them Local!

translateltd54
Helpful | Level 5
Go to solution
That might be the way forward for big uploads in future - thanks!
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