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Recently updated files become online-only, while older files remain available offline.

Hi! Smart Sync or whatsitsname automatically puts "old files" to "offline only", which seems like a good idea. I've experienced a lot lately that it puts files that I'm actively using, last edited just a few days ago to offline only, while there's plenty of files that I haven't touched for ages that are left available offline. I can't quite figure out the logic behind it and it's quite frustrating to have to download stuff all the time.

Is there any way to change settings for this, or somehow whitelist stuff that I'm actually using?

Thanks,

Joel

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Nancy

Welcome back to our forum, @JoelBille!

When saying “offline only”, I’m guessing you mean “online-only”, correct?

Out of curiosity, did you reinstall the Dropbox app or have any other update, before you noticed this behavior?

As for the Dropbox settings you mention, can you please go to the Sync tab of your app preferences and send me a screenshot of what you see there?

Keep me posted.

JoelBille

Hi! Thanks for your quick reply. My bad, of course I mean "online only". I can't find any way to edit the post, is there one?

I don't remember doing any manual reinstallation or updates.

Thanks for pointing me to the Sync tab, I see that I can uncheck folders there, that helps.

But still, it seems like an unwanted behaviour/bug that I have files that have last changes over a year ago that are left Online Only (they are not unchecked in the Sync settings), while much more recent ones are automatically set to Online Only?

Nancy

No worries, Joel! I’ve updated the title of the thread, so it should be good.

Can you send me a screenshot here of your Sync tab? I’d like to check your settings and see if there’s something else we can try together.

The other setting you mention (selective sync) is similar to making your files online-only, but if you uncheck folders this way, they’ll be completely removed from your desktop app and you’ll only be able to see them on www.dropbox.com.

JoelBille

Can't seem to attach screen shot. Get an error message "File Not Allowed". Tried .png and .jpeg.

However, the only setting that seems to be related is the "default syncing mode for new files" (or something similar, my system language is Swedish) and that's set to "Available offline".

Megan

Hey @JoelBille, from me too!

Have you tried to copy and paste the screenshot instead?

As for your new files staying in the online-only status, would you mind clarifying how you uploaded these files?

Did you use the app to sync them to your account online, or the website? Also did you recently edit them locally?

JoelBille

Pasting screen shot worked:

@Megan. The files are uploaded by being added to my dropbox folder on my computer, website not actively involved. The files that I'm talking about are generally changed a week or two ago. At the same time, I have other files in other folders that were changed months or even years ago that are not set to online only.

I never manually set anything to online only.

Megan

Hey @JoelBille!

Would you mind sending over a few screenshots of the icons you see next to the files that you open and edit frequently, and those that haven't been accessed in a long time?

Is it possible that this behavior is similar to the one described at this relevant Help Center article about online-only files after the update on Dropbox for macOS on File Provider?

JoelBille

Here's a screen shot showing a few Online Only icons, these are files that where edited (right most column) about two weeks ago.

And here's one showing older files:

There's one part of the "Expected changes" relating to Online Only:

However, I have about 400gb of free space so it does not quite make sense.

I'll try to just hit "Make available offline" on a parent folder I'm currently working a lot within, and see if it stays like that. It will take a couple of weeks to see if it stays though.

But still, how is the functionality supposed to work? In the screen shots there are files edited the same day, but just some of them are Online Only.

Hannah

Thanks for the update and the screenshots, @JoelBille.

Can you manually switch the old files you don't need to online-only, to see if that changes the behavior for your recent files?

And please, do make your recent files available offline and let us know if they stay that way.

JoelBille

@Hannah, will do!

Still, I don't feel I've had an answer to what the expected functionality is here, how Dropbox determines what files to put to online only.

Nancy

Hey again, Joel! I see a bunch of folders that have become online-only indeed; can you please clarify their original size? Just to isolate the issue a bit more.