Mac Finder continues to show large size of Dropbox Folder despite everything being online-only

Sorry to see that you're having this issue, @Brucknerphile.

What is the current sync status of the Dropbox app, when you hover your mouse over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar?

Also, is the "online-only files on Mac" option enabled in your account settings here?

Let me know and we'll go from there.

Dear Hannah,

Thank you so much for your swift and speedy reply.

Hovering over the icon in the menu bar shows the software version and "up to date." However, the "online only files on Mac" toggle was not on. I tried that yesterday with no result as part of my due diligence before hopping on here, and there is no change this time either. Per the pop-up message, when I enabled the toggle, I waited a few minutes and restarted the desktop application. There is no change.

Thank you again, and I await your input.

Jay

Hi @Brucknerphile, could you right click the Dropbox folder and choose 'Get info' and attach that screenshot here?

Dear Jay,

Thank you so much for your input and help.

Please find the "get info" pop-up attached, as requested.

Thank you once again. I look forward to hearing from you.

Dropbox Screenshot _GETINFO_2024-08-02 at 9.21.27 AM_EDITED.png

PS: I am aware that it is saying "1.9MB on disk", but Finder is still including all the space in its calculations.

Hi again, @Brucknerphile!

Have you restarted your computer since enabling the "online-only files on Mac" setting?

Also, if the issue persists after the restart, can you right-click on a folder, make it "available offline" and then switch it again to "online-only", to see if that makes a difference?

Hi, Hannah,

Again, thank you for your help with this.

I have rebooted several times since changing the toggle to "online only Mac files," with no effect. As you instructed, I downloaded a few folders ("make available offline") and then changed them to online only. I'm afraid there was no difference, and I continued to check Finder space, etc., to see if anything was happening.

I'm happy to try whatever else you think might be helpful. I appreciate any help you can provide.

Hi, everyone. This is peculiar. I received an email informing me that someone had contributed to this conversation, but I see no new messages or responses? As it is the weekend, I didn’t expect any action until tomorrow. Have I missed something? Please get back. BTW, the problem from the original post persists. Many thanks.

JS

Hey @Brucknerphile, I hope you're doing well!

Can I send you an email, in order for us to have a closer look into this?

Absolutely, and thank you! Do you have my email? -JS

Hey @Brucknerphile!

I just sent you an email to your Community-linked email address.

I'll be more than happy to see you there, thanks!

Hi, Megan.

I'm afraid I didn't receive your direct email. Perhaps it was sent to the wrong address. Where can I find the "Community-linked email address" you mentioned in your last communication? I've checked all inboxes and spam folders. If necessary, I'm happy to share a different email address if we can find a mechanism to do so.

Thanks!

Walter

Hey @Brucknerphile - the Community email address would be the one you see on this page.

Could you check that email address's inbox and junk/spam folder as well and let us know if you can find Megan's email?

Hi! Thanks for getting back to me.

The email listed is correct; nothing in spam or junk. Dropbox Community emails are getting through. Can you try again, or post an email at which I can reach out to Megan? Thanks!

JS

Nancy

Hey @Brucknerphile, can you check your email address again and let me know if you can see my email now?

Hi, was there a solution for this problem found? I have the exacte same issue and would like to resolve it ;-)

Jay

Hi @Ecnerwal, as of yet, there are no updates to this matter, since it appeared to be an intermittent issue at the time.

Is your Dropbox folder set to online-only? When you right click the Dropbox folder and choose Get Info, could you copy and paste a screenshot of that window in your next reply?

Hi Jay, thank you for your reply.
Dropbox is set to online only. The info of the dropbox folder shows a size of 41,16GB which could be correct.

One of the subfolders has a size of 274,15Gb (3,92Gb on disk).

I have the impression that the size indicated on top is also what's used in Disk Utility to calculate free disk space.

Thanks for the screenshot, @Ecnerwal.

Indeed, what you're seeing should be correct, since your files are set to online-only.

One more thing you can check is the "Online-only files on Mac" setting in your account settings here; is it set to "On"?

Hi, I checked and this is set to 'On' as well...

Walter

Thanks for clarifying that for us @Ecnerwal - much appreciated.

Since everything seems to be set correctly, could you send us a screenshot of where you're spotting the hard drive space discrepancy?

Also, what is your computer's OS version and the version and status of the Dropbox desktop app as shown in your menu bar?

In Disk Utility my harddisk is nearly full while the total volume of storage in other folders than Dropbox is nowhere near this amount. Because the size of the folders in Dropbox show a big size I am under the impression that my Mac somehow registers the total volume of files in Dropbox as used disk space while the files aren't downloaded to the disk.

Computer OS is Sequoia 15.3.1.

Dropbox version: 218.4348

Hey @Ecnerwal, if your files are online-only (ie., they have the online-only icon) and the properties confirm that the physical space is 0kb for these files, then it seems that the feature works as it should from our side.

Some of the locations where you can see a file's size, will display the logical size, others the physical size.

An online-only file's placeholder takes up approximately 0kb, which is the physical size.

The logical size of the file is the actual size of the file, if it were downloaded to the device.

In other views of Finder, the OS will report the logical size, which is probably why you're seeing the behavior you're seeing.

I hope this helps!

Hi, if the files still take in disk space even if they're not downloaded what is the use of files on demand?

The file from the attached screenshot is not downloaded and still takes in disk space. So I assume that this disk space cannot be used for other files. What if the size of all Dropbox files exceeds my disk space?

When doing an online search about this I find a lot of people with the same problem without a solution.

Hey @Ecnerwal, if you don't mind can we switch to email, in order for us to have a closer look into this?

Yes of course, do you have my email-address?