I have a "ghost" folder which keeps re-appearing no matter how many times it is deleted. Any clues?
Hey, is the folder you are trying to delete empty or does it contain any files? Usually this happens because a piece of software on a computer that the folder is shared on is trying to access it, and is recreating it when someone else deletes it.If there is a file in there, looking at the 'previous versions' will tell you which machine the culprit is. If you don't have a file in there, add a test one, delete the folder again and when it reappears, you'll be able to solve the mystery! Deleting the folder on the rogue machine will fix it permanently.
This is my experience - not sure if it will be relevant to others. I've been trying to delete some Dropbox files today too. Finally I realised that Dropbox was stuck in a sync with 4 files apparently unrelated to the ones I was trying to delete. It was showing sync time as 2 hours. I paused the syncing on both my computers (while turning off other devices which use the Dropbox App) and deleted the files I wanted to delete both on the Dropbox website and on my computers. I emptied the Trash too. (Yes I know this is probably a bit paranoid) Then I switched back on the syncing which completed in seconds and my deleted files stayed deleted. I use a Mac, and the MP3 files I was trying to delete had been sent to me via an NTFS formatted USB stick by a Windows user.
Thanks Jennifer R. You've reminded me that I also paused the synch which was also taking a couple of hours. I think the long synch was because I tried to drop ALL the photos on my PC into Dropbox and they took up more space than the free version allows. Once I had deleted the folders as per my previous comments I re-started the synch.
I have had this happen a few times over several years of using Dropbox. The solutions on this page did not work for me unfortunately - i tried them all. Then i figured I would try saving a new folder with exactly the same name on my desktop, drag it into the Dropbox folder and when prompted 'An item named “_______” already exists in this location. Do you want to replace it with the one you’re moving?' I chose to 'Replace'.
This allows Dropbox to re-synchronise with a new non corrupted/ non problematic version of the folder, and can be deleted without issue. Hope this helps.
I had the same problem with a reappearing folder - I could not delete it from my PC. However, after reading comments here about other devices causing a conflict, I tried deleting the folder from my tablet and it worked!
If it helps, in my case, it was about presence of folders that I explicitly marked for not syncing. Since there is not .ignore folder for dropbox (AFAIK), it syncs the folder the moment we add, and then we have to go into settings and unselect it for sync. This leaves a copy on the server. To overcome the problem of reappearing parent folder I reincluded the folder I excluded earlier, let it sync, and then deleted the parent folder.
@Seetharama D. : excellent additional info, on imagining it, that is very logical, when a folder is erased all the files one by one are ordered removed from the DB cloud, but the not synced folder is never present so is never ordered to be removed. The end result is there is a path to that not synced folder that never is removed from DB so reappears but empty.
@Dave , I am wondering how you knew which machine is uploading the files again?
@John U : its the machine that could not delete them, since all that can wont have the files anymore. The one that cant still does, so must do something with them, and it chooses to upload them again. (in reality it is just doing its job, it deletes the file, it finds a file it, uploads a file, the DB app doesnt know it didnt delete it, it might have deleted it and some other program immediately generated a new file of the same name at the same place.If you need to know which user/device did this, you use the web interface and check the previous versions of the file for the one that recreated it.
I was able to solve this same problem by deleting the folder from on the dropbox website interface.
I have the same problem and it is annoying.
I just had this problem and it turned out that there were some files in a folder, but they couldn't be copied to the windows installation of dropbox because they had illegal filenames in windows. Specifically, they had single quotes and double quotes (at least one of those isn't legal in a file name).
These files were created on the mac a years ago, and somehow they keep appearing on my various computers despite my best efforts to eliminate them.
Anyway... I fixed the problem by
This problem could probably also happen with illegally long file names and unicode characters in file names. These are all problems that I have encountered and which have given me more grey hair than nearly anything else in my life.
I'm pretty sure that was possible on the Mac create idiotic file names that are not valid in Linux, Windows, or even across all Macs. I'm not interested in reproducing this error for the mac fanboys out there.
PS: This is Gene, Kindy's husband, not Kindy. She's not this cranky, at least not on public forums. We just use the same Dropbox account.
PPS: Before you get mad at Dropbox, you should know that Dropbox is better than anything else at managing these sorts of problems. From a programming perspective, Dropbox is freaking amazing. So please save your anger for the many other less amazing software products out there.
Ok so it seems as though I've had the same problem as everyone else. My Dropbox was working fine, had some folders on there that mostly contained music. However, I recently backed up a bunch of different computers and used Dropbox to store the files. This ended up being ~200k+ files. Initially, the Dropbox app synced it until I deselected it using selective sync. What I did not expect to happen afterwards, and ended up causing my Mid-2015 13" Macbook Pro Retina to start blowing out air like it was on fire, was that it had to download what was then a massive file list. I guess Dropbox calls this "indexing", despite the fact I had already chosen for it not to sync. So access Dropbox though the browser and delete the folder that contains all the files. Didn't work. Uninstalled and reinstalled the app, nothing. Today, I went back and saw the folder had reappeared as others have stated. Deleted it again, froze my browser so I force quit. I come back and it's gone, I double check the event log and it states that 200k+ files were deleted. I check the icon in the menu bar and it still shows its attempting to download and index the file list, so I go to security settings through the browser and unlink all the old devices I no longer use, as well as the computers I had to backup. Still the same issue occurred. Then, what ultimately solved the problem was simply deleting the Dropbox folder on my computer which then brought up a prompt window stating that "this computer used to be synced to your account, do you wish to place the folder back in its location or relink the account". Choose relink and login, problem solved.
I have the same problem. I suspect a mobile device might be the culprit, but the device is not listed on the site!
I have the same Problem its driving me crazy any real fix for this?
Need this fixed! When??
Don't know if this is a permanent fix but I had the same problem of a deleted folder reappearing. I renamed the folder and then deleted it. So far it hasn't reappeared.
Are anyone tried this tool?
https://help.dropbox.com/syncing-uploads/files-not-syncing
Its a tool that checking for bad files.
I have the same issue with a "Client" folder, which if I delete in any combination it just comes back. I have renamed and it just makes 2 files. Moving and copying also result in 2 files being made, the new ones being able to be deleted fine.
Is this an issue that is likely to have a permanent fix as we have quite a few machines connected with selective sync on all of them so I can't remove them as it's many gb of files.
Many thanks.
Ray, Check the version history of the file for what machine keeps restoring the file after yuou erase it, fix that machine so it erases the file when you do.
Hi thanks for the response. It isn't a file I'm trying to delete. it's a folder. The folder is empty and shows as empty on all the machines, and I am Admin, but it deletes and reappears.
As it is a folder it doesn't show which machine is making it reappear.
That is problematic, it appears that the files will delete but the folder wont, on the faulting device.
You could try leaving a file in there and then deleteing the folder, it might be regenerated.
I also have the problem:
It's a folder. Deleting it on Mac, Windows or the browser does not make a difference, it always reappears. Creating a file in it and deleting the folder doesn't help, the folder is created empty.
Even when the parent folder is excluded from all my machines (selective syncing), and then deleting it from the DropBox website, does not help. It reappears in the web interface.
The web interface should only recreate the folder if a device connected instructs it to.
So one of your devices must not be selectively synced, or has some greater issue.
(1) Check each device to see if the folder is present on the device, and remove it. If it comes back its not that device that ordered it created. If it wont delete then thats the device that cant delete it so orders it recreated. Fix that device.
(2) Failing that, take all devices off line, delete the folder via the web, then bring devices online one by one, and watch for the folder being created, when it is, it was the device you just brought online.
Solved.
I just posted a ticket to support. But, I believe I fixed my own issue.
I have a folder shared with just over a dozen other people. We had a resilient "Dec 6 pm" folder that wouldn't delete. I could remove it from a web browser, from the desktop client, or within folder on both PC & Mac. I even tried deleting it with my mobile app on iPhone and iPads. Nothing.
In re-reading the thread a few considerations - rogue machines & a glitch with file recovery technology.
Holly's post gave me the idea, except you can't right click and view "previous versions" of a folder. You can however reveal "deleted" contents file and folder alike by clicking the garbage bin icon on the top.
Doing so will let you see your ghosting folder just before it adds itself again. You can then right click it and "permanently delete".
So far so good. I'm still going to follow through with my ticket as I'm curious if the error is with one my shared users' computers or a glitch on dropbox's end. I'm leaning to the latter as "permanently deleting" appears to have worked.
Unsolved.
Attached is the email from Dropbox Support. I've resigned to the fact it's not worth the effort!
Quote:
Thanks for contacting us.
I understand you are experiencing issues with a file reappearing after deletion and would also like to know if its possible for us on our end to delete the file in question.
While we have access to your account information, your folders and files are private and we can't make changes to them other than restoration events.
Reappearing files and folders usually occur because one or more of the computers that are synced are still accessing the folders. If you delete them, an application on another computer recreates them to continue working on the files.
To solve this issue, you should delete the file or folder from the Dropbox folder on the computer that's recreating the file. You can see which computer has re-added the file by going to the website and checking previous versions of the file.
The instructions for checking a file's version history can be viewed here:
https://www.dropbox.com/help/11
Please note that you can only view the previous version of files not folders. If you have a reappearing folder, you'll need to open the folder until you locate a file, so that you can view the previous version of the file within the folder.
I hope this information helps.
Hi all, Happy New Year!
I got the same problem too.
I use my Android to delete the folder "shellext ". <-- Right, u see space include the name. I think that was the problem.
I think u can use any PC or Smartphone to delete it but not tested! First try with Android was successful.
I have tried contacting support, they know this is a problem, I hope they resolve it soon, I went as far as to tun off all computers and iPads that were syncing except one for a day and it still happened!
I'm having the same issue. This is very bad and needs a fix ASAP. Thank you.
The folder name includes a spaces at the end and Windows can't handle it.
Try to use an Android or Linux on a network share folder to rename "ShellExt " in "ShellExt" or delete them.
I do it with Android and ES File Explorer File Manager:
Let me know if it work or not.
