Smart Sync causes my quick preview function (spacebar) to not function properly on my Mac. I can't preview thumbnails, or quick preview any videos or photos. Any ideas why this happens?

Likely because you're trying to preview a file that doesn't exist on your computer. When you set a file to Online Only, the only thing that's left of that file on your computer is the necessary information to make it appear in the folder. Since there's no content in the file, your OS (nor any other program) is able to preview it. Remember, when you set a file to Online Only, the file is removed from the computer leaving behind only a marker file. In order to access that file, whether it be to open and edit it or simply preview it, the file needs to be on the computer (Smart Sync doesn't allow you to open files directly from the Dropbox servers). When you open a file, it's synced back to your local drive and then opened as normal. When you're done with the file, if you want it to be online-only again, you need to mark it as such.

Smart Sync and Quick Preview on Mac | The Dropbox Community

147 Replies

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Rich
Super User II
8 years ago
Likely because you're trying to preview a file that doesn't exist on your computer.

When you set a file to Online Only, the only thing that's left of that file on your computer is the necessary information to make it appear in the folder. Since there's no content in the file, your OS (nor any other program) is able to preview it.

Remember, when you set a file to Online Only, the file is removed from the computer leaving behind only a marker file. In order to access that file, whether it be to open and edit it or simply preview it, the file needs to be on the computer (Smart Sync doesn't allow you to open files directly from the Dropbox servers). When you open a file, it's synced back to your local drive and then opened as normal. When you're done with the file, if you want it to be online-only again, you need to mark it as such.
Andrew-RFLB
Helpful | Level 5
8 years ago
No, unfortunately it turns off Quick Preview (or Quicklook) for all of my files, even local, until I restart my Mac. And if I happen to try to preview an online-only file, it causes it to malfunction again. I can basically just avoid hitting spacebar with online-only files, but it is annoying if I want to use it to see those files' sizes.
Amy P.5
Helpful | Level 6
8 years ago
Rich wrote:

Since there's no content in the file, your OS (nor any other program) is able to preview it.

Not entirely true. In both List and Cover Flow views in the Finder, I am able to see previews of some Online-Only images, but only sporadically. Sometimes a preview will appear, then I'll scroll some more and it will disappear, then I scroll back and it reappears.

Also, all of these previews come up as a square cropped thumbnail, not a preview of the entire image with correct aspect ratio.

In my case I am also able to see these same images (whenever they decide to appear) in Quick Look. I am not sure if the previews come up on PSD or other file types, but I do notice it with JPGs.

I am on OSX El Capitan (10.11.6).
Tolga
New member | Level 2
8 years ago
I have the exact same problem especially for my camera uploads folder. Some random images keep their thumbnails while other can't. Is this something Dropbox can fix ?

When I upgraded my account to Dropbox professional, I was hoping I could at least see the thumbnails in the smart synced folders and download images as necessary. But not being able to at leas preview a low quality thumbnail defeats the whole purpose for me.
dallassterling
New member | Level 2
8 years ago
Same here. This is crippling my computer and making it unusable without downloading images to online. It appears to be causing a bug with the Finder in general.
Lauri I.
Helpful | Level 6
8 years ago
Our team has been using the Smart Sync and so far it has worked really well!

However we noticed that after starting using Smart Sync on High Sierra, all of us have the issue that Finder stops showing the preview image when hitting space bar on files. You need to relaunch the Finder all the time to get it back to working.

We suspect that it's somehow related to dropbox smart sync, because many time I notice this happening is when I'm browsing files on a dropbox folder that have all or some of the images on "online only" mode.

Anyone else experiencing the same issues? Any solutions out there?
Sanchez
Dropbox Community Moderator
8 years ago
Hi Lauri I.,

Did you update existing Macs to High Sierra? If so, and if our app was already installed prior to the update, then I suggest that you uninstall our app, restart your system, and then re-install. Current version 44.4.58, and you can get it here.

I hope this helps. Let me know.

Have a great weekend :sunglasses:
annienar
Helpful | Level 6
8 years ago
I'm having the same issue, is there going to be a fix for this? I was excited to try smart sync but I cannot use it like this, one of the most loved features OSX has is the quick preview of files.
Minato
Dropbox Staff
8 years ago
Helloes to all here!

As this seems fairly irregular and it requires some investigation, can I ask anyone with this issue to contact any of our Support channels,

so we can investigate the issue more thoroughly and with all our tools (that aren't available from this platform)?

Thank you in advance!
annienar
Helpful | Level 6
8 years ago
I did ask via Twitter about this issue, specifically how to remove the smart sync because it was messing the preview of all my files.