I removed folders with selective sync, but they're still syncing.

mhoberg

I used Selective Sync under preferences to uncheck all of my folders and then hit “Update”, in order to free up some space on my laptop hard drive.

However I can still see the folders on my computer and it seems like Dropbox is attempting to sync them (it shows a status of downloading a large number of files, and some of the folders have the sync icon showing, others have the blue cloud icon).

How do I make sure that no more hard drive space is being consumed by Dropbox? Should I delete the folders from my laptop without deleting them from Dropbox entirely?

I’ve already restarted my computer after making the sync changes and also cleared out the Recycle Bin on the laptop. 

Thanks!

 

 

dravenlocke87

Hey, I’ve run into something similar before! It sounds like the selective sync changes didn’t fully take effect yet. One thing you can try is pausing Dropbox syncing temporarily, then double-checking that all the folders you unchecked in Selective Sync are still showing as "not selected" in the preferences. After that, resume syncing.

If the folders are still visible with the cloud icon, don’t delete them manually—those icons usually mean the files are online-only and aren’t taking up space on your hard drive. But if you see any folders without the cloud icon (like with a green checkmark), it might mean they’re still downloaded locally.

Also, make sure Dropbox is fully up to date—it could be a glitch if it’s not syncing properly. Hopefully, this helps!