Syncing locks a file from being saved as a new file

Question

Hi folks (not sure if this is the right category)

Got a really weird issue with drop box locking me out of saving a file as a brand new file while synch is on.

I have a default After Effetcs project file that i resave as a new file for each use.
But when i go "save as" and use a brand new file name - drop box says it cant do that as its synching

How is it synching a file that doesnt exist?

Turning synch on/off over and over again is just wasting far too much time.

And saving a brand new file shouldnt cause synch issues

Any tips? is it a setting?

frasermu · Answer

"If I were you, I'd momentarily pause Dropbox, while working on AE"

This is what i have been doing - and isnt really a great solution. Slows down workflow massively and creates a risk of forgetting to sync manually.

in fact its a massive pain in the proverbial.

Dropbox really should be subserviant to the operators file creation - not getting in the way by refusing to allow an existing file to be saved as a new file.
At the very least the addition of scheduled syncing - say every hour or something

Megan · Answer

Hey @frasermu, thanks for the added info!

It seems this has to do with After Effects, and how it's treating these files/projects.

It's not unlikely that since both Dropbox and After Effects are working on the same files, there are some sort of conflicts while Dropbox syncs the same content.

Even when it doesn't seem that it's syncing, it's actively indexing any changes.

If I were you, I'd momentarily pause Dropbox, while working on AE, and then resume syncing. In any case, I'll forward your feedback to the appropriate areas so we can continue to improve.

I'll also leave this thread open, in case any other user would like to chime in.

If you need anything else, let me know!

frasermu · Answer

Hi Hannah. Thanks for jumping in

All i get is an error from after effects (attached) then the standard "do you want to delete from dropbox server as well?" pop up.

So for some reason its treating a 'save as new name' as a deletion somewhere
Not getting any errors from the drop box desktop app that im aware of

OS - Win 10
DB version 191.4.4995