Hello, I am looking to resolve an issue I'm just experiencing now for the first time. When I do a command + i to see the size of a dropbox folder on my finder, the finder now just show me the size that the folder take locally. Before I could see the size of the full folder + the local size. For example, I have a folder of 20 go with 5 go of it accessible offline : Before the finder was saying "20 go (5 go on the local disk)" Now the finder show me "5 go (5 go on the local disk)" Here is a screencaps that illustrate the issue : To the left I have the folder "PLAN 1" in the dropbox via finder, it indicates 25 ko for 551 elements To the right I have the exact same folder on my back-up hard drive, it indicates 42 go for 551 elements (the real size of the folder). So my question is, how this feature suddenly disapperead and how can I make it come back ? It is an essential part of my business to be able to check precisely the amount of data I have ! For info, I'm running Ventura 13.6. One of my attempted was to update de MacOS because the problem started when I was on Monterey. Thanks a lot ! 🙂

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Real folder size won't show in Finder

Hello,

I am looking to resolve an issue I'm just experiencing now for the first time.

When I do a command + i to see the size of a dropbox folder on my finder, the finder now just show me the size that the folder take locally. Before I could see the size of the full folder + the local size.

For example, I have a folder of 20 go with 5 go of it accessible offline :
Before the finder was saying "20 go (5 go on the local disk)"
Now the finder show me "5 go (5 go on the local disk)"

Here is a screencaps that illustrate the issue :

Capture d’écran 2023-10-26 à 14.21.05.png

To the left I have the folder "PLAN 1" in the dropbox via finder, it indicates 25 ko for 551 elements
To the right I have the exact same folder on my back-up hard drive, it indicates 42 go for 551 elements (the real size of the folder).

So my question is, how this feature suddenly disapperead and how can I make it come back ? It is an essential part of my business to be able to check precisely the amount of data I have !

For info, I'm running Ventura 13.6. One of my attempted was to update de MacOS because the problem started when I was on Monterey.

Thanks a lot ! 🙂

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Jay

Hi @Lageole, thanks for messaging the Community.

In general, the size on disk would be the files physically stored on the computer using the available offline option, and the size would be the logical size (if all the files were local).

As you're not seeing this, are you certain that none of the files have changed on the Dropbox site?

This will help me to assist further!

Lageole

Hello Jay,

Thank you for your answer !

Before this problem occured (this week), I was always seing the full size of the folder (and in parenthesis the space it is taking localy). It was a really great things as the finder and folders were acting as any other folder of my computer. It was also really helpful to understand the size of folder even if they are not offline and also to perfom clone backups.

Right now, on the example / screencaps I showed, I guess it is acting logicaly (25ko) as all the files are online. There has been no modification from the dropbox site. My struggle is that I would want to see the real size of the folder, wether it is online or offline (as that was the case since I'm using dropbox).

I don't know if it is clear, I'm sorry this is a really abstract problem to describe !

Jay

What setting do you have on this page for Online-only files on Mac?

Lageole

Ok my page is in french but I supposed we are talking about this :

"Online files on the Mac
In the Finder on the Mac, files stored online will display "zero bytes", making it easy to spot files that are taking up space on the hard disk."

If yes, I have it disabled !

Should I activate it ?

Thank you !

Jay

Yes, please could you activate it to see if this helps with the display.

Lageole

Ok I try to disabled it, waited like 5 minutes and then restart the application but it didn't change nothing.

Now I reactivated it to see it change something but I don't have trace of improvment so far !

Lageole

But what this option is describing is actually the core of my problem ! But even thought the option was disabled (so supposed to show the full size of the folder online), the feature was not working 😕

Jay

Could you try reinstalling the Dropbox desktop application, without uninstalling it first, by using this link?

Lageole

Ok I followed the link, download and install (even if it was saying that the app was already installed and the computer), and the app restarted. I still have the issue (I waited that the sync process was finished) 😕

Walter

Hey @Lageole, sorry to jump in here, but could you clarify where your Dropbox folder is located as per the app's preferences (under the sync tab) and if this happens with all of your folders that have been set to be online only or some or just a specific one?

When was the last time you remember seeing both the actual size on disk and the placeholder's size?

Lageole

Hello Walter,

No problem ! Thanks for the help 🙂

All right so :
- My dropbox folder is located right after the user folder like this : /name_of_my_computer/users/my_user_name/my_dropbox_folder
- I didn't check all the folders but if I check few of them and the issue is there, for any folder.

Also, I'm not the sure about the precise moment this issue appears but I guess 1 or 2 weeks ago I didn't experience it (as I'm using this feature on a daily basis and I just been realizing this this week).

I hope my answers are precise enough !

Thanks again

Hannah

Hi there, @Lageole!

Since you reinstalled the Dropbox app and changed the 'online-only files on Mac' option a couple of times, can you also restart your computer, to see if that makes any difference?

Lageole

Hello,

For the re-installation, I just did it without disinstalling the application !

This morning thought, I turned on the computer and I still have the issue 😞

Note that I left de mac only-online option disabled (as it seems to be how it supposed to be set to obtain what I want).

Thank you for your help !

Lageole

Note : I asked today someone of my team to check if he was having the same issue and that was the case.

It's really behaving like the 0 octet mac only-online folder option was activated except it's not 😕

I'm sharing a screencaps just so you can verify the options are good (I'm sorry it is in french but I didn't find a way to switch it in english).

Capture d’écran 2023-10-27 à 14.23.30.png

Jay

Could you confirm that the folder on the site is the same size as the local backup you have in the other drive with screenshots?

Lageole

No problem,

Here is a screencap of the local back up folder vs the same folder online on dropbox (both with 551 elements but one showing 25ko the other showing 42 go which is the real size)

Capture d’écran 2023-10-27 à 17.45.43.png

+

A screencaps of the calculated size of the very same folder on dropbox.com. It give me 39,11 go but I guess this is the different module of calculation that give a slightly different result (which is actually another issue but I don't think it can be settle anyway).

Thank you !

Lageole

Ok I continued my research and found this thread : https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Create-upload-and-share/Online-Files-are-shown-as-Zero-Bytes/td-p/607040/page/2

It is exactly the problem I'm facing and the answer is that it is from an apple update ? Is that what I am experiencing ?

Thank you

Lageole

Hello,

Just doing a little up to the post !

Thank you !

Walter

Hey @Lageole - thank for the nudge!

I just wanted to mention that since you're on a version past Mac OS 12.3, it's likely that you're facing what's described in the post you linked indeed.

Let us know if you have anything else to ask or add.

Lageole

Hello Walter,

Noted ! That's what I was dreading 😞

But it raised some questions and feedbacks,

Firstly, I have access on my user interface to the option we were talking about that would allow to choose. Why isn't this choice effective?

Secondly, the size calculation tool on dropbox.com is unusable because it gives different sizes from what I observe on the same file locally (local folder gives 42 go via the finder and its online calculation 39...). The tool don't give also some crucial information like the number of elements of a folder.

Finally, and if I've understood correctly, this is a change in the way dropbox works. I have to report that the removal of this option/tool is dramatic for the business I run (and that I think many users run, since we edit video content).

We need to be able to accurately check the size of a folder, whether it's online or offline. We can't afford to have to put a folder locally every time we want to check its size. We work with files that are hundreds of gigabytes in size, and these checks are essential (back-up, shooting reports, content verification with suppliers, etc.). This is what makes dropbox attractive to audiovisual content creators.

So if this is indeed a deliberate change, please let development know that it's a change that makes dropbox almost unusable for our business, and will potentially push us to look for a new cloud storage solution, or servers, NAS etc.

If it's temporary, do you know when update are gonna come to fixe this issue ?

Thank you !

Hannah

We really appreciate your feedback on this, @Lageole.

I will make sure all your comments are passed along to our team about this.

If you need anything else, don't hesitate to let us know.

Lageole

Thank you !

Do you know if an update is scheduled soon ? Or if this new API mac update could change this issue ?

Thanks again 🙂