Take Your Search Game to the Next Level with Dropbox Dash  🚀✨ Curious how it works? Ask us here! 

Forum Discussion

Margie's avatar
Margie
Helpful | Level 5
6 years ago
Solved

My desktop app is stuck at syncing and I need help with the buttons to fix hardlinks and permissions

I have the exact same problem as many others with Dropbox sticking with "2+day syncing".  Daphne kindly posted the solution below, but I can't get it to work.  When I hold down the space bar (in windows 10) absolutely nothing happens; I see no options anywhere for "Fix hard links" or "Fix permissions".

 

My assistant has the same problem and gets the same result  We are both on Win10.

 

What am I missing??  Thank you

 

 

If none of your top level folders are showing this icon, then I'd suggest trying the steps below to see if that resolves the "Syncing" status for you:

  1. Click the Dropbox icon in your system tray/menu bar.
  2. Click the profile pic/initials icon in the top right of the window.
  3. Choose "Preferences..."
  4. Go to the "Account" tab.
  5. While holding the Alt+H keys (Windows/Linux) or Option/Alt key (Mac), click "Fix Hardlinks".

If this doesn't resolve the issue, please follow the steps again and instead click "Fix permissions". 

I hope this helps, let me know how it goes!

desktop
sync
  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    6 years ago

    Hi Margie; how are you today?

     

    I'm sorry for the slightly delayed reply; your post was caught by our Spam filter (probably due to its length) and I just moved it back for you. 

     

    Moving on to your concern now, can you please try using the alt+H keys instead of the space button and let me know if this did the trick for you?

     

    Thanks! 

3 Replies

Sort By
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    6 years ago

    Hi Margie; how are you today?

     

    I'm sorry for the slightly delayed reply; your post was caught by our Spam filter (probably due to its length) and I just moved it back for you. 

     

    Moving on to your concern now, can you please try using the alt+H keys instead of the space button and let me know if this did the trick for you?

     

    Thanks! 

  • Margie's avatar
    Margie
    Helpful | Level 5
    6 years ago

    Thank you Walter, that worked like a charm.  I did restart the computer, and it too quite a long time to stabilise but now, for the first time in ages, it is "up to date".

     

    Many thanks for the suggestion.

     

    Margie

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    6 years ago

    Thanks for letting me know this worked Margie; I'm glad to hear it's sorted now.

     

    Feel free to give us a nudge if you ever come up with a Dropbox question!

     

    Until then, take care and stay safe! 

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!