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New Files Not Downloaded Locally (Mac)

Starting last week when dropbox automatically moved the dropbox location on my mac

I have an IFTTT script that places a file in my dropbox
That file stopped getting downloaded to my local folder - Now it just shows in the folder with cloud & down arrow icon

How do I make those files auto-download locally?

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Hannah

Hey @Uhnnohn, thanks for posting to our Community.

Can you please let me know your computer's exact OS and version?

And also, which version of the Dropbox app do you have installed?

You can see that by hovering over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar.

Once I have this info, I'll be able to assist you further.

Thanks!

DMUK

I'm getting this same behaviour on OS X Ventura 13.1 with Dropbox 164.3.7907

Select All folders under selective sync and nothing is downloaded my folders all have the download icons next to them, is this a bug from moving the location under /users/USER/library/cloudstorage/dropbox ?

Also this migration didn't delete my old drobox folder under /users/USER/Dropbox - is it safe to just delete that folder?

Quite a lot of bugs and I didn't even opt-in to this beta, somehow I'm enrolled? Presumably because I'm on Ventura or something? Bit risky.

iamFIREcracker

You can, in theory, make a directory available offline (Right click on Finder, then "Make available offline"); however, that does not seem to work with new files created remotely (note: changes to existing files will on the other hand get sync'd just fine). If your IFTTT script does _not_ create new files that frequently, then this workaround might be able to help new files frequently; otherwise, we will have to wait to hear back from the community (in the meanwhile, I have opened a support ticket asking the exact same question).

Ciao,

DMUK

Oh that’s pretty bad.

Also they don’t put this in any of the app info screens when they “upgrade” you so how are you supposed to know any of this?

Not the best move that Dropbox have made!

So even if I make the root folder to Dropbox appear offline it won’t automatically sync new files? Seems like either a massive bug or a massive regression in how a cloud storage app should be working.

Michael_T

Hannah did anything come of this? I’m having the same problems.

Jay

Hi @Michael_T, when you're running the new version of the Dropbox desktop application for Mac OS, files won't be downloaded automatically.

You'd need to mark them as available offline, or mark entire folders as available offline, and the files in that folder would download.

MC58

I updated to Ventura (13.4), downloaded the newest Dropbox version (175.4.5569), and now ALL my files have the cloud with the download arrow pointing down. Somehow, all my files that were both local and in the dropbox cloud are now only in the cloud. I have a large HD, and I wish many (1000s) of my files to be available offline. The ONLY way I can get a file to downlown to my computer, is if I individually open it. I can't, for example, click the download cloud icon on a folder and have Dropbox then download all the files in the folder. This is a real pain. Is there a way I can go back to the earlier version? Really can't believe all the time I have had to put into this. I never, ever would have "upgraded" to the new Dropbox version if I knew this would happen to me.

Jay

Hi @MC58, are you able to right click the Dropbox folder and choose the option for 'Make available offline' so that they download to your computer?

MC58

Thanks for your question. I have to "right click" each file, chose make available online, in order to get my files back on my HD--and often I have to go through this process more than once. Perhaps my Dropbox simply can't keep up. It's a long, painful process--working sometimes, and not at other times.

Right now, my new hassle is with my apple music (formerly known as iTunes). I have purchased 1000s of songs, organized in playlists. Ever since I "upgraded" the dropbox version, I have not been able to open and use the mac music app on my laptop. Usually, when I open it the beachball just spins. Sometimes, it tells me to choose a different library (which I have tried). But sometimes, it works--for a few minutes. When it cuts off, I look at the the music libraries, and for some reason, dropbox's cloud icon appears. I say "appears," because minutes earlier it was not there. I suspect that Dropbox keeps modifying the library, and that is mucking things up. Any suggestions?

My photos are gone on my Mac. I get a statement saying that the photo library is in Dropbox. I assume I just need to wait long time for the photos to be downloaded.

MC58

Can you please help me with the following issues? It has been a disaster since "upgrading" to the new Ventura version of Dropbox.

1) Dropbox still has not "put back" files on my HD, even though I have clicked the download cloud and clicked the file for "online available." In order to get Dropbox to syc, I paused it and then immediately resume: it says about it is syncing about 100K files, 144.5GB. And then when I check a few seconds later, it says, “your files are up to date, and no sycing. Why is that?

2) Relatedly (I suspect), I cannot get the photos app to work on my mac. When I try to open it, I am told "the photo library is in dropbox and it needs to be downloaded;” yet when I go to the photo file on my mac, there is a “clock” download icon, suggesting that it is trying to download the library.

Those are the current issues that I am working on.

When I agreed to download the new dropbox version for Ventura, a message did say--happily!--that the location of my dropbox was going to be moved on my local computer. I thought that was a simply process. If I knew that dropbox was essentially going to remove all my photos, music, and docs, put them in the cloud, and then (attempt) to download everything back again in a new location, I never would have agreed to the new version. That's bound to cause multiple problems with multiple apps.

Thank you for your help.

Hannah

Thanks for the additional info and your feedback here, @MC58.

Rest assured that your comments are passed along to our team.

Regarding your photos library, I'm afraid that it's no longer supported on Dropbox; this is one of the expected changes after the update and you can read more about it here.

As for your files being online-only, I understand that you need to right-click each file to make it available offline, but you should also be able to make entire folders available offline and the Dropbox folder itself as well, the same way; does that not work for you?

What happens when you right-click an entire folder and choose to make it available offline?

MC58

Thank you for your reply. I finally got a large selection of file downloaded locally. It took about 5 hours.

I am continuing to have problems with two apps that had worked flawlessly before I transitioned to the new version of Dropbox for Ventura: mac music and mac photos (which, honestly, are quite important, right?)

1) Immediately after I "transitioned," my mac music is not working. The music libraries all seem to have been corrupted. Is Dropbox aware of this, and is there anything that can be done about it, or are my 1000s of songs just lost?

2) 1) Immediately after I "transitioned," my mac photos will not work at all. Dropbox tells me that the photo libraries are local and not in the cloud, but--as I showed you in the last screen shot--my HD shows the "clock" for the partial download, as if it is still trying to download (but it never budges, that is, it never completes the download). Which is it? Is my photos library in the Dropbox cloud or on my HD or somewhere in b/n?

Thank you.

MC58

OK, I got mac photos to work by taking the photo library out of the dropbox file. So, that is fixed.

I still cannot get mac music to work. I get a message saying that the song cannot be located, I then choose my music library (some copies say "damaged" now that I upgraded to the new version of dropbox), but the song still will not play--I get the same message (choose its location). So I am wondering: IF I MOVE MY MUSIC LIBRARY OUT OF DROPBOX, WILL IT THEN WORK? I'm hesitant to do this, because it means I then have no backup for $1000s worth of music. But is it possible that dropbox is no longer supporting mac music???

MC58

Ever since I "upgraded" to the new Dropbox for OS Ventura, it's been a mess on my Mac. After a week, I have sorted out all the issues except for this: my mac/apple music app will not work, and hence I do not have access to about 100 playlists and 1000s of songs.

Here is what happened: I "upgraded," and once Dropbox was finished moving my files to a new location, the music app would work for a while (about 5 songs), and then suddenly stop playing. In order to fix this, I had to keep rebooting my computer. And then, after about 2 days of this, when I would go to play a song, I would get a message saying that the original song cannot be located. I've now been struggling with this for about 5 days. I've tried to open the music app with older music libraries, but none of them work. Has anyone else had this problem? Any solutions out there? Thank you.

Megan

Hi @MC58, could you clarify how you first synced your music folder to Dropbox? Did you copy or move it to your Dropbox folder while the desktop app was running or did you back it up to Dropbox using the Backup feature?

Do you see those files on our website? If so, can you preview them normally there?

Can you maybe send us a screenshot of the exact error you're getting when trying to play those files?

MC58

Megan, I appreciate your help. Honestly, I can't remember how I first backup up my music files to dropbox. My guess is I simply moved the files to dropbox, and perhaps put an alias so that apple music could find them. It was a long time ago.

Anyway, I went to my external HD, restored a bunch of music libraries with Time Machine, and then for a few days kept opening different music libraries. Most didn't work, or only partially worked (eg, not all the songs were there). Finally, I found one that worked pretty well, and then manually restored the 40 or 50 remaining songs that were still missing.

So, in general, all is well: my apple photos are working and my apple music is working. I will say, it's "cost" me about 20 hours of work. I have another mac computer with dropbox running Ventura, and needless to say, I will not be "upgrading" to the newest dropbox. I hope dropbox won't "make me" do it before they fix the bugs in the current version. Apple's iCloud is starting to look good to me.

But I do appreciate your help.