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How to delete 'view-only conflicts' folders?

Hi All,

I have access to a shared folder for our Parish Council. At some point some 'view-only conflicts' have been generated. Now my folder structure is different to everyone else's on the council and I'd like to get mine to match theirs!

The folder structure should be:

Parish Council > Archive, Clerk, Finance, etc

However on my account I have some extra levels appeared:

Parish Council (view-only conflicts 2021) > Parish Council (view-only conflicts 2019) > Parish Council > Archive, Clerk, Finance, etc

There are no extra files or folders in these additional folders, and seeing as the 'master' Parish Council folder is nested inside the 'view-only conflicts' folders I have no idea how to return it to normal! How can I get the master folder back to the top of the folder tree? (I assume I'll then be able to delete the empty 'view-only conflicts' folders...)

Any help would be appreciated!!

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Accepted answers

Hannah

Hi again, @Clifford_B!

In the beginning of the article I linked to you, you'll see some info about moving a shared folder to a different location (not the actual steps); the steps you tried to follow, concern Dropbox Business accounts, so indeed, they are not relevant to you.

If you navigate again to what we see in your second screenshot, you should be able to click on that "..." (ellipsis) on the left of the conflict folder in the options, which should show you the top level folders in your Dropbox.

Without selecting any of the folders, you should be able to click on the "move" option and the shared folder will be moved to your top level.

All comments

Jay

Hi @Clifford_B, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Are you a member of a shared folder, which you have view-only access to, or another user has view-access?

This will help me to assist further!

Clifford_B

Hi Jay,

I have view-only access to the master Parish Council folder, and all sub-folders. The other higher level folders are only accessible by me and no-one else on the team.

Jay

It seems like there was a conflict at some point on your account, could you attach a screenshot showing how it appears in Explorer/Finder and on the Dropbox site?

Clifford_B

I don't currently have the desktop app installed (I removed it in case it was the cause of any conflicts).

There are two screenshots attached:

1. The Master Shared Folder shows what should be my top level, however you can see the additional levels of conflicts folders it has become nested in.

This should be my top level, like the rest of the team

2. The Nested Conflicts Folder shows what is my top level, and that it is only accessible by me and no-one else.

Nested Conflicts Folders.png

Nancy

Hi @Clifford_B! I found this Help Center article on view-only conflicts, in case you’d like to have a look.

Other than, if you go to your All files page here, do you only see the conflicted copy of your “Long Wittenham Parish Council” folder, or is there also the actual original “Long Wittenham Parish Council” folder that’s still shared with you and the rest of the members?

I’d just like to check what’s the best way to merge everything together.

Clifford_B

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for the link, I've already read this and other articles on view-only conflicts. I can't find any duplicated files anywhere, the only signs of these conflicts appear to be the empty folders themselves.

When I log in to my All Files page I initially see the folder "Long Wittenham Parish Council (view-only conflicts 2021-03-17)". Inside that is "Long Wittenham Parish Council (view-only conflicts 2019-11-09)". And inside that is the shared folder "Long Wittenham Parish Council" which I think is what should be at the top of my folder tree.

Hannah

Hey @Clifford_B, sorry to jump in here as well!

Have you tried moving the folder out of those conflicted folders to your root Dropbox?

You won't lose access if you move it out.

Clifford_B

Hi Hannah,

I'm not sure how that article helps me as it explains how to move a shared folder to a different dropbox account, which is not what I want to do (I only have one account!)

In any case, I followed the instructions and it seems I don't have permission to do that anyway:

Screenshot 2024-04-08 at 22.12.32.png

Instead, if I highlight the shared folder and use the More menu [...] and choose Move then I only have the option to move the shared folder up one level, meaning the top level is still a "view-only conflicts" folder:

Screenshot 2024-04-08 at 22.13.53.png

What I want is for the shared folder to be at the top level, I have no other files in Dropbox and only use it for this shared folder.

Hannah

Hi again, @Clifford_B!

Without selecting any of the folders, you should be able to click on the "move" option and the shared folder will be moved to your top level.

Clifford_B

Hi Hannah,

That worked! The process is somewhat unintuitive, so for completeness (and anyone else reading this solution) here's the full process:

To move a shared folder out of nested 'view-only conflicts' folders:

1. Browse to the folder one level above your shared folder

2. Hover your mouse on the line of your shared folder and a [...] button will appear at the far right. Click this and then click [move]

3. A new diaglog window will pop up showing the name of the folder you want to move and above it a file path beginning with an [...]

4. Click the [...] and choose the top level called 'Dropbox'

5. Now the shared folder has been moved out of the nested 'view-only conflicts' folders you can delete them.

Phew.

Megan

Awesome news @Clifford_B!

Thanks for the heads up! If you need anything else, we'll be one post away.