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Dropbox syncing online-only files when a third-party app tries to access a synced folder on Windows

Operating System/Browser (if using the web)
(Windows 11 and Windows 10)
Dropbox App Version (if using the app)
(238.4.6075)

Question or Issue
This problem has bothered me for a while, I don't remember since when, but currently whenever I tried to save something into a Dropbox synced folder (such as a Powerpoint file or Word document) on Windows, the dropbox would start to sync all the supposedly online-only files within the folder and the syncing is really really slow. Most importantly, the syncing process would freeze the entire Save-As dialog and nothing can be done before the syncing is finished. This is not just limited to MS Office, but also other apps as well. Directly access the folder through Windows Explorer is OK.

I am not sure if this is an Windows issue or a Dropbox issue. I suspect accessing the folder through an app other then Windows-Explorer would trigger Dropbox to believe you are trying to access all the files in that folder. I have updated Dropbox app to the newest version as suggested by support. And it happens on both of my desktop PC and laptop PC. Also I'd like to point out that I am accessing Dropbox through a proxy, which may explain the slow-syncing issue.

Does anyone have similar experiences?

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Comments

Rich

Jincheng W. wrote:
I suspect accessing the folder through an app ... would trigger Dropbox to believe you are trying to access all the files in that folder.

That's usually the exact cause. If any process attempts to access an online-only file, Dropbox has to sync the file back down to your local drive. It doesn't matter if the process is trying to write to the file, or simply access it to show a thumbnail, etc. Any access of a file will cause it to sync down again.

Megan

Hey @Jincheng W., thanks for posting here!

As both you and @Rich mentioned, that behavior is usually expected when a third-party app is involved with your Dropbox folder.

Examples of such include backup services, antivirus, recently used file lists or third-party applications that monitor files in general.

Although you can turn your available offline files into online-only by simply right-clicking on them and selecting the relevant option, if there are apps that constantly/persistently look at your files, they may come back as local, just as you described in your posts.

For this reason, try temporarily quitting or disabling apps systematically, until you see that the issue is resolved. The last app that you closed when the behavior in question no longer occurred may be the one performing this action.

Keep me posted!

Jincheng W.

Thanks to both of you! I understand the logic here, but what does not make complete sense is that when you simply access the folder via a Save-As command from MS office, which is one of the most common behavior when using a computer system, dropbox would start to sync the whole folder. I would think it should not be that different from using Windows explorer to access the folder, which does not trigger Dropbox syncing.

Rich

Jincheng W. wrote:
but what does not make complete sense is that when you simply access the folder via a Save-As command from MS office ... dropbox would start to sync the whole folder.

Office is likely accessing every file in an attempt to read meta data, and the files would need to be stored locally for that to happen, so Dropbox syncs them.