Using the Mac version 88.4.172 of the Dropbox app on my 2015 MacBook Pro (with the latest Catalina macOS 10.15.2). Dropbox has been stuck for several weeks on 39 files syncing. I use Smart Sync for a number of folders. These are the steps I’ve taken to try to fix this issue: * Quit Dropbox and restarted. * Restarted the MacBook Pro. * Killed all Dropbox processes using Activity Monitor (force quit them). Then restarted the MacBook Pro, and restarted the Dropbox app. * Deleted and reinstalled the Dropbox app in the normal manner. * Deleted and reinstalled the Dropbox app using the Advance Reinstall directions at: https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/advanced-reinstall * Checked for “bad files” — per Dropbox instructions — and got stuck using this link: https://www.dropbox.com/bad_files_check, which froze up on the Safari, Firefox and Opera browsers. This link is discussed in numerous discussions and seems to be something Dropbox has been “working on” fixing for more than a year. * Removed all aliases in the Dropbox folder and subfolders. * Checked for and removed all symlinks in the Dropbox folder and subfolders. * Checked for circular arrow “syncing” symbol in the Dropbox folder and subfolders; found none. All files and folders have the green checkmark symbol. * Looked for hidden files that might be causing issues, found none other than normal Mac “.DS_Store” files — in most folders — plus three Dropbox hidden files: “.dropbox”, “.dropbox. cache”, and “Icon?”, in the Dropbox main folder. What else can I do?

Let's reset the configuration settings of the Dropbox desktop app.

Unlink and relink. The system will take some time to re-index your files and sync them all.

If the number of files remains stuck after this, I will create a ticket to check a few more things with you and provide the next steps.

Thank you for your patience @yotimbo

All comments

Thanks for reporting the issue and all the steps you've tried so far @yotimbo.

I appreciate your patience. It looks like you may have some files with permissions settings that block Dropbox from syncing them.

Here is what we can do now.

:pushpin: Please note that it is very important to follow these steps specifically as failure to do so may result in other issues

1) Make sure the Dropbox desktop application is running

2) Click on the Dropbox icon in your menu bar and then click on the gear in the Notifications panel

3) Select 'Preferences'

4) Click on the 'Account' tab

5) Hold down the 'Option/Alt' key

6) Click on the 'Fix Permissions' button (make sure you're still holding down the 'Option/Alt' key)

7) You may be prompted for your a username and password, this is your computer login credentials, not your Dropbox account ones

This will allow Dropbox access to your home folder, Dropbox folder, and any required settings.

Let me know if this worked for you. If not, let me know if you have your Dropbox folder or its system files are located in a mounted network drive or a remote location (like roaming profiles).

Looking forward to your response.

Hope this is helpful!

yotimbo

Hi Fiona -- Thank you for the quick response. The solution listed above did not change anything after the permissions were fixed. My Dropbox folder and system files are on my MacBook Pro, not on a network drive or remote location.

Let's reset the configuration settings of the Dropbox desktop app.

Unlink and relink. The system will take some time to re-index your files and sync them all.

If the number of files remains stuck after this, I will create a ticket to check a few more things with you and provide the next steps.

Thank you for your patience @yotimbo

yotimbo

That did the trick. Thank you, Fiona!

Pleasure solving this with you.

Thanks for troubleshooting with me.

Have a nice weekend! :slight_smile:

cfinnie

I'm not yet using Catalina, and my Mac is a couple of years newer, but I just started having this problem too. Since I haven't upgraded my OS, I suspect it's a problem with Dropbox.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to do all the stuff @yotimbo tried. And I'm currently only having problems with PowerPoint files. So, what I tried was force-quitting the application and restarting. Restarting the Mac. Taking the PowerPoint file out of Dropbox. And just opening PowerPoint without trying to open a file. In all the first steps, it just kept saying it was downloading (it wasn't) or opening (it wouldn't--except once when I could see the slides, but not do anything with them) and finally froze so that I had to force quit PowerPoint over and over. Even when I'd taken the file out of Dropbox. The file is fine. I can open it on the Dropbox website. But that doesn't do me much good as I need to edit it. When I tried to just launch PowerPoint without opening a file, I got a message that it was doing something with Smart Synching. Whatever it was, it froze the application again.

Hi @cfinnie, thanks for posting.

Let me know which of the steps offered above you need help with and I will do my best to take you step by step.

In the meantime you can edit Office files online. Just use the Open with button. Steps offered here.

Hello. I have also tried the various steps outlined above, including your suggestions Fiona. No luck - I have 10 still syncing. My files are local. (Although I turned this off for now to see if that might help). Any other suggestions? Thanks!

I should mention I have 2 uploading and 8 downloading files.... Through the unlinking process, I managed to get 6 uploading down to 2. But then that was it. I tried again, and no luck.

cfinnie

Mine turned out to be a PowerPoint problem. Microsoft tech support installed a new one for me. If I understood correctly, since the file wouldn't open because of the PowerPoint issue, Dropbox kept trying to download and open it. Once I got the files to open with the new ppt app, the Dropbox problem went away.

Happy the third party support was able to troubleshoot this for you @cfinnie.

If you need anything Dropbox related, we are always here for you.

Have a nice day!

rgbysgt

I've tried all the suggested solutions listed on this thread: https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Files-folders/39-files-stuck-syncing-for-weeks/td-p/388751

None have improved the sync status. The number of files grow each day.

The issue does not appear to be isolated to any single machine as dozens of my team members that also share the same dropbox account are experiencing the same issue, although their file counts are all different.

Some files will sync OK and others are stuck in a syncing status.

I suspect a bad file, but the bad file check page suggested on the link above continually crashes in Chrome. I haven't tried other browsers as the author of that post called out similar experiences with Firefox and Safari.

How we can get insight into which files are failing to sync and why? The log files are in a proprietary format which might give some insight.

Hello @rgbysgt.

I am merging your topic in this thread since you have checked on the steps here and the issue persists.

Are the files stuck on the website and you cannot see them locally? :thinking:

Is there any big event that could explain the number of files syncing for all of you? What do you see in your events page?

Also, please let me know if the number of files is decreasing and if you are using Smart Sync or selective sync.

Thank you!

rgbysgt

Hi Fiona-

There are instances where we see a RED X on the file sync status and others where the arrows are present but they never sync. Furthermore, some files will sync successfully and show a green check.

I don't see anything on the events screen that indicates there's a major event that would have triggered this. The number of files have been growing over the last several weeks and have not declined. When I had unlinked and relinked the account it was at ~230 files and then after that step it jumped to +2000 and is now +4000. Other members of my team have counts of 216, 9, & 44.

Thanks for the additional info @rgbysgt.

At this point, I think I should look into this more with you. I emailed you already. Let me know if you received my email at the email address associated with your account.

Thanks!

Hi,

I have the same issue as the above user and had 5000+ stuck files.

I did the option-alt key on the acct preferences page then: Fix Permissions, and Fix Hardlinks.

That did nothing so I unlinked Dropbox and Re-linked and that reduced the stuck files to 103.

I have unlinked and relinked two more times and they are still there and stuck syncing. Can you please suggest what I could try next?

DropBox Version: 89.4.278 Current as at today.

Thanks

Hi @psionic001, thanks for adding your experience to this topic.

Unlinking - Relinking is a good step to reset the configuration settings of the app. I do not suggest to unlink relink more than once though, because in this process, all your files will take time to re-index, so if you have many files this will increase your syncing time, without fully updating the files.

If the desktop app get's stuck syncing a specific amount of files again, what you could do is check if a security system or antivirus could be checking these files and whitelist Dropbox on such security apps.

Let me know if this helps and the version of your Operating system and I'll be happy to help you more with this.

Thank you!

Hi Fiona.
I turned off my AVG antivirus and there were no firewalls turned in and I still have 103 files trying to sync.
Thank you

Thanks for getting back to me about this @psionic001.

It's time for us to have an email communication about this. I have already emailed you to investigate more before I give you the next steps. I used the email address associated with your Community profile.

Thank you!

Hi - I still have not heard from anyone from Dropbox on what I should try next? I see they are responding to others, but not to me....

Hi @elizabethd3333!

I got your back. You have an email from me in the address associated with your Community profile.

Since you've tried everything offered in this dicsussion, I will look into device details and we'll take it from there.

Thank you!

GypsyRydr

I had the same problem. After troubleshooting it several different ways and not succeeding even after the "fix permissions" method did not work, I uninstalled AVG antivirus. Quit and restarted Dropbox. All my files got synced and problem solved.

Hope this helps.

mymgraphics

After 3 monthos of this BS, I finally found a solution. I FIXED IT! With no help from anyone at this company. Seriously this was such an easy fix and it has dragged on for months making my job much harder and more time consuming. Customer support is a joke and if my clients did not use this company I would close my account ASAP.

Not even a phone number for support? WTF?

What did you do? I haven't been able to fix mine yet and I have tried all the suggestions.

cfinnie

To tell you the truth, I didn't try all the suggestions because I couldn't. I didn't even understand most of them.

But all the files I was having trouble with were 1 file type--PowerPoint. So Dropbox tech support suggested I troubleshoot that. I went to Microsoft tech support. They reinstalled a new version and the problem resolved.

I still get odd, random messages about files syncing for no reason I can tell. But I haven't had that endless loop again.

ok thanks! Mine are Excel and Word, but maybe I should try calling Microsoft as well...

My stuck files were all word files. About 103 of them. I deleted the ones I didn’t care about, then for the remainder I opened them, made an edit like add ing a space then closed them.
Another small handful wouldn’t save as they were being used by another service (Dropbox) so I quit all dropbox services that were running in the background and then re-saved the files and then I was eventually done. No more stuck files.

markhawkins

Sadly same issue only I have 12 that have been stuck for days now.

I have tried all the fixes mentioned and searched for any errors but can't see anything obvious.

Runing Mac Catalina with the internal HD as the Dropbox folder (though not the boot drive)

Anythoing else I could try, many thanks.

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