My Dropbox desktop app is stuck on syncing the same number of files

Thanks for your help, Lusil, but I think we should leave this here now. I hadn't realised the process would take this long to move to the first stage of someone getting in touch who can actually help/give advice. Unfortunately I don't have that sort of time at my disposal to resolve the issue so you can close the ticket now. My business requirements mean this is a really urgent enquiry, not something that can take four days without an engineer even getting in touch yet. Thanks again for your help.

In the end I found an online solution that meant me having to back up my Dropbox data on an external hard drive as a safety, then unlinking my computer from Dropbox (again), quitting the Dropbox application on my computer (again), then deleting everything related to Dropbox from my Mac (data/application/cache/hidden files etc...) and then starting again from scratch. The crucial two elements seem to have been deleting the Dropbox data on my computer as well as going into the Mac Terminal application and entering a command to show all hidden files. There is a hidden .dropbox file that needed deleting (amongst others buried elsewhere in the system).

I then relinked the computer with my Dropbox account - effectively treating it as if it's a brand new computer with no history of my Dropbox account anywhere to be found on it. The sync seems to be working now - it certainly isn't stuck at the same point as before - but not everything has finished syncing yet so I'll just have to wait and see...

Thanks again for your help and sorry you weren't able to resolve it for me this time.

All comments

Hi there @EdC30,

Thanks for reaching out to us about this. I'd be more than happy to help!

At first, awesome work on the initial troubleshooting - definitely narrows down our investigation.

Could you also check if there's a third party app, like a security app, that could be hindering the syncing process? Could you try temporarily disabling your antivirus? Maybe that will do the trick.

Let me know of any updates!

Hi there. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. Sorry - should have already said that I don’t have any AV or security software. (I’m running MacOS Catalina if that’s also helpful to know?)

Thanks for your swift reply too, @EdC30!

I've sent you a ticket to the email address connected to your Community profile.

When you have the chance, please check your inbox for my latest message.

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

Hi. I've replied to your email. My Dropbox is still stuck syncing. Do you have any further suggestions as to how I can solve this problem, please?

I've replied to your email, @EdC30.

Don't hesitate to get back to me there with any additional questions and we'll take it from there.

Thanks!

Gayrisafi

Hi Lusil,

I am experiencing the same stuck syncing problem with Dropbox desktop version 81.4.196 on Windows 10.

Can you please help me too?

Hey @Gayrisafi,

I'd be more than happy to! Let's see what we can do.

At first, could you please try reinstalling the latest stable version of the desktop app (83.4.152)?

You can do this by following the steps below:

Make sure you've saved and quit all apps that access files in the Dropbox folder.
Stop the desktop app (if needed) by selecting Quit Dropbox.
Uninstall the desktop app.
When that finishes, reboot your computer to make sure the uninstall is complete.
Download and install the newest version from this link.

Let me know if this helps!

Gayrisafi

Hi Lusil,

Thanks for your swift reply.

I did exactly like you've asked.

The number of files stuck syncing decreased (from 196 to 21), but the folders marked with the blue syncing icon stayed the same. What is weirder is that when I enter some of these folders I see no files marked with the blue syncing icon, all green.

I have that same issue as part of my problem too - when I enter some of the blue syncing folders, there are no files marked with the blue syncing icon, all green. This isn't the case for all the folders/files, just some.

Thanks for trying the reinstallation, @Gayrisafi.

I'd recommend giving the desktop app some time for now as it may be indexing for any changes.

If the status hasn't changed after a while, give me a nudge and I'll make sure to get back to you as soon as possible. :slight_smile:

Gayrisafi

Hi Lusil,

I mean no disrespect but I believe dropbox has completed indexing.

Another thing I have observed when I looked at my files on dropbox web is that some of the files I've deleted or renamed are still listed there. When I renamed/deleted a file on web for test purposes I saw that the number of files (stuck) being downloaded increased and when I did the same locally, the number of files (stuck) being uploaded increased.

I've tried the other solutions listed by other users (decreasing folder depth, renaming files shorter etc.), but nothing works.

Looks like the desktop app cannot rename/overwrite/delete the server versions, along with not being able to upload or download them.

I'd be glad if you have any other suggestions other than give it some time.

Thanks for the additional info, @Gayrisafi.

It sounds like there could be something slowing down the connection to Dropbox.

Could you check if there's a proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router restricting traffic to these following Dropbox domains.

Could you also try another WiFi connection and see if that results to a different behavior?

Let me know what you find!

Hi Lusil. I first posted on this forum on Tuesday and am still no further forward with resolving my issue. Your email of yesterday stated that a specialist from your team would be in touch but I have heard nothing from them. Please can you advise the best process for me from here? The resolution of this issue for my business needs is a top priority.

Many thanks.

Hey again, @EdC30.

Since the ticket is with one of our engineers, they'll be able to provide you with the next and most efficient troubleshooting steps. Rest assured, as soon as they have more info, theyll get back to you via email.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks again for your help and sorry you weren't able to resolve it for me this time.

Awesome troubleshooting, @EdC30! Glad to hear that you were able to get to the bottom of this.

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to give us a nudge and we'll do our best to help.

In the meantime, I hope you have a lovely weekend ahead!

FabianaSA

Hello, I have the same issue!

I already unistall/reinstalled 3 times and also, follow all the step that a tecnician sent me an the problem still

How can I fix this problem, please.

Have you tried deleting your Dropbox data and hidden files from your computer as well as uninstalling?

FabianaSA

Yes. I did all this steps and also those bellows along with the complete email instruction and nothing happened. The sink just stop leaving some files out and whatever I open, it does not sync. However I can still see what the others from my team is uploading.

4) After this, please proceed to delete remaining registry entries:

a) Click the Start button. Type REGEDIT in the search box and press Enter.
b) In the Registry Editor, navigate into the following locations until you find the keys for "Dropbox" and "DropboxUpdate", they will be in either or both of the following two locations:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
c) In both or either of these folders, please delete only the "Dropbox" and "DropboxUpdate" folders by right-clicking on the individual folders and selecting "Delete".

5) Then, please delete the Dropbox remaining folders:

a) Open a Windows File Explorer (not Internet Explorer).
b) Type %LOCALAPPDATA% into the address bar (include the % percent signs) and press enter.
c) Delete the folder "Dropbox" from the resulting window.
d) Please repeat these steps with the following folders as well (it's OK if you don't find a Dropbox folder in any of those locations):
%APPDATA%
%PROGRAMFILES%
%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%
e) Then restart your system.

Hi there @FabianaSA, thanks for giving some initial troubleshooting a try.

Could you also try something else for troubleshooting purposes: temporarily disable your antivirus and ensure that you've configured your firewall to work with Dropbox?

If this doesn't help, could you please provide me with the ticket ID (eg. #1234567) of your support interaction?

Keep me posted!

Hi Lusil

I have a Macbook Pro and am having the same issue with my number of files to sync seemingly stuck and random files not updating. It has been a few days now - no change.

Have you got easy to follow insructions in how to fix this that I can use. Otherwise can you help me contact phone support? I cant find the account page that generates the number to initiate a help phone call.

Thanks

Russell

Hi there @tpfruss, thanks for checking in with us and sorry to hear that you're also having trouble with this.

In general, the support options available depend on your account's plan. For example, currently, phone suport is only available to Dropbox Business users.

You can have a look for more info on this here.

I'd be more than happy to see what I can do to help though!

Initially, have you checked out if you're running the stable version of the desktop app? How about if there's a proxy, VPN, firewall, security app, or even ISP/router hindering traffic to these Dropbox domains?

Keep me posted!

Hi Lusil

I am not very tech savvy unfortunately.

I have been using dropbox for years without an issue. I have reinstalled this Dropbox desktop app and it hasnt fixed the problem. What is a 'stable' version of the app?

I have done no updates to my Mac in the past while so nothing in my setup has changed to make this happen. I doubt of a firewall is responsible for this if so? I have no 3rd party security app.

I did recently join a business account trial by accident when a company began sharing their account with me to work with them a week ago and I was talking with your customer service to cancel that trial to understand how running 2 access areas works. One is a business account held by them and then I have my own Plus account.

What do you think?

Maybe I can get over the phone help because the problem is related to this business connection stuffing it up?

Thanks for writing back, @tpfruss.

Initially, please note that the support options depend on your account's plan. Specifically, phone support is only available to Dropbox Business admins during local business hours.

You can find more about this in this article.

You also mention that you joined a Business team and you have a personal account. This wouldn't affect the syncing process on your computer.

The only thought that passes through my mind is if you have more than 300,000 files on your Dropbox folder(s), since the performance of the desktop app can decline in this case.

Finally, you can find what version of the desktop app you are using by hovering over your Dropbox icon that's next to your computer's clock. Could you confirm that you have the latest stable version (83.4.152)?

Let me know how it goes!

Hi Lusil

Thanks for your reply.

I am pretty certain I dont have anywhere near 300,000 files in my dropbox but it would be good if I knew how to check this.

Confirming that my version of dropbox is that number above.

I had a case raised with the specialist support team by a chat support person after they could not solve my issue. It looks like waiting for an email response from them is my best bet at this point.

Here is a screenshot of the activity that is not updating my dropbox:

Screenshot 2019-10-25 at 15.32.31.png

Thanks
Russ

Thanks for keeping me in the loop, @tpfruss.

Since you're already in touch with a specialized member of the team, I've passed your comments along to them and I'd recommend continuing with them.

I can see that they've replied to you, so don't hesitate to get back to them with any additional info.

In any case, keep me posted! :slight_smile:

morisf

My Dropbox on Winodws 10 (version 84.3.160) is also stuck on sync. I have tried to uninstall few times but the problem still exists. What should I do now? Thank you.