Is this possible? I know how to selectively sync on my computer, but I can't figure out how to do so on my ipad. HELP!
"That feature already exists and does not do (nor is it intended to do)..."
The reason everyone keeps asking for "Selective Sync" is because they want their mobile Dropbox to act in similar fashion to their PCs, i.e. hide, or "sync" certain folders.
Dropbox designed the mobile version to look similar to the desktop app, and that's a very good thing, that's one reason why we love it. But, because certain features are available on PC, people now expect to find them on mobile because of the familiarity, and because they're so useful.
At the root, Selective Sync is not what mobile users need, but most of us don't understand how exactly Dropbox works at the root. So we ask for features in the best way we can describe them. If I go to Home Depot and ask for nails to put up my drywall, the employees don't send me away because that's not what nails are used for.
So maybe the feature we're asking for is infinitely more complicated than finding a box of drywall screws, and that's something only Dropbox can answer. We do appreciate your responses to the community, not many companies do that still. But we're not all educated in proper technical terminology.
It seems that what we're are asking for is, a feature that let's us select what folders get displayed on Dropbox mobile. You can call it Selective View instead.
THAT!!!!!
"It seems that what we're are asking for is, a feature that let's us select what folders get displayed on Dropbox mobile. You can call it Selective View instead. "
....no this is not what I am looking for, because it implies if you add a file on your tablet, say a photo, it is not going to be uploaded to the cloud.
To be precise, what I am looking for is exactly the same functionality that you get when you are on a mac and do this:
1. click the Dropbox icon in the menu bar
2. click the gear icon
3. Click Account
4. Click Selective Synch
5. Click Change Settings to display a list of all the folders on the dropbox cloud with check boxes for you to select or deselect. On an iPad, they should of course be DESELECTED by default, for obvious reasons of space.
To make clear why the offline feature is useless, just consider this use case scenario:
So when using the offline feature in the dropbox iOS app, In order to access say just ten photos in one of the subfolders, every time I wanted to access them , I would have to search through a thousand files looking for just those ten file names I wanted. That is impossible because I only know how to navigate my folder hierarchy to find the photos I want (in my case: world photos: USA: California: San Francisco), but could not possibly remember 10,000 photo filenames when they are all called something like P10004568.
Blame Apple for not having a file system in IOS, don't blame Dropbox for not having "Selective Sync". If Apple would have had a file system app makers would have made sync apps for Dropbox on IOS.
There are currently tons of apps like Dropsync, Foldersyns etc for Android that let you sync your Dropbox folder to your Android device. Not only sync, but have useful options like "Download Mirror/Upload Mirror", "Sync", "Download/Upload only" etc. Why? Because Android has a file system apps can access, IOS does not.
Documents by Readdle on iOS lets you synchronize a Dropbox folder (two ways), therefore I would this not imply that it is possible on iOS? and therefore that Dropbox could also do if they wanted to?
Whatever the correct term for it is, the underlying issue is there needs to be a way to mark entire folders (with subfolders) as available offline in iOS, not just individual files. With hundreds of work files that I need available offline on my iPad, it takes me FOREVER to mark them all. And I have to do this every two weeks because the files I need change. Since all those files happen to reside within a handful of folders in my dropbox, this could all be done in .01% of the time with half a dozen clicks if entire folders could be marked as offline/automatically downloaded/synced/whatever you want to call it. Please do everything you can to add this function.
Wow... appears only the people who need selective sync on iPad or iPhone understand the issue. Need to have files locally on device when away from WiFi to work effectively on docs. Airplane anyone? The app allows for a single file at a time to be stored locally on device. What's the big deal (dropBox) to allow selection for a folder? Do the coding and be a solution provider. I have 128 GB iPhone 6s+ and 256 GB iPad Pro.... locally storing ALL my files on devices is now a reality. Please catch up to the hardware and help me to increase productivity while simplifying file management. That is the goal, correct?
And I don't agree with Waqas' comments above. Even with "access to a file system" it's an easy enough programming task to "virtualize" the folders within the app itself. How an appliance actually stores the files is irrelevant.
On my iPad half of my available storage is taken up by my photos. My photos are sync'd to Dropbox. How do I safely remove them from my iPad without deleting them from Dropbox?
@Chris: In the future, please start a new topic or reply to one related to the issue you're having. Thank you.
As long as you've uploaded your photos to Dropbox you can safely delete them in your Camera Roll without them being deleted in Dropbox as well. If you delete them in the Dropbox app, they WILL be deleted from Dropbox.
MArk P. is 100% correct. I purchased an 256Gb iPad pro today for use while travelling only to discover that I need to individually download every file I want to work on while away. This is completely impractical when dealing with dozens of files. I need to download relevant folders containing documents I'm working on. Dropbox needs to sort this out, and soon or I'll be asking my team to look for alternatives!
I do not think that one of the questions asked above was answered. Specifically, if dropbox does not store any files on my iPhone, then why would it show that it is using 2.4GB of space on the phone? I have thousands of files in my dropbox that I do not ever need to have access to on my phone. But there are a few folders that I access all the time. Is there a way to reduce the amount of space that dropbox files are using on my phone?
I just both iPad Pro to use it as my PC with selected Dropbox folders stored on my iPad for offline use, but I realised I would have to select houndreds of files separatelly! not only a folder! CARAZY!!!
I want to synch WHOLE selected FOLDERS (with subfolders) and keep the synchronised files on iPad for offline use. But I see it is not possible on DropBox. So I need to switch to different app?
Please advise another app which makes it possible both on Windows and iPad.
Jakub
Guys, are you gonna implement selective sync on mobile devices any time soon?
I started using "Documents by Readdle" with my 256G iPad and IT seems to fix problem of DropBox. Anyway IT is stupid that DropBox doesnt have the functionality yet! :-( Do they have so bad programmers?
I have been asking for this now for over a year . I do not think anyone monitors this forum. Dropbox used to be such a responsive company towards its customers. Now it seems to be ignoring them.
Another bump.
I am a scientist and I travel a lot-- constantly need to use different documents and presentations. Bought iPad Pro with the hope that I could use Dropbox to sync files. Essentially the plan was to have the new iPad replace my computer while traveling. Guess I should've done my homework, since Dropbox was the link.
I have to say, I'll probably just switch to oneDrive instead of Dropbox Pro-- a real pain because everything is already on Dropbox-- but I just can't see why entire folders can't be made to keep offline.
Really disappointing, guys! Otherwise would have been a great product.
Tim
Can someone reply from Dropbox when this problem is going to be fixed. A year ago I heard they were working on it, but I have heard nothing since. Dropbox on an iPad or iPhone is useless until this is fixed.
Hi. What if you have the new Ipad Air 13inch? The entire dropbox content is stored locally on the ipad. It comes with 256 GB storage. There is an option to remove a file , but just afraid that if I use that option , it will remove the file from the Dropbox account. I guess I can create a test file and delete to see if this will work.
grantatsjjmc wrote: What if you have the new Ipad Air 13inch?
What if you have the new Ipad Air 13inch?
Do you mean the 13" MacBook Air? There is no iPad Air that is 13" (iPad Pro has a 12.9", but that works just like a regular iPad or iPhone).
There is an option to remove a file , but just afraid that if I use that option , it will remove the file from the Dropbox account.
Regardless of what platform you're on, if you remove a file while in the Dropbox app on mobile devices, the Dropbox folder on computers, or the Dropbox website, it will be removed across all other devices linked to your account as well. Anything you do within Dropbox takes place across your entire Dropbox account.
To everyone else in this thread, you can now save folders offline in iOS. I know it's still not the full syncing solution that many of you want, but it's something...
My issue is I have my dropbox account and I added it to my sons Ipad to backup his pictures & videos - now his pictures are on my Iphone and my pictures from my iphone are on his Ipad - its a nightmare that I don't know how to fix.
I did specify his photos upload to a specific folder and I thought that would prevent seeing all of my photos on his ipad. He is too young to have his own account.
Is there a way to fix this?
Hi,
I have the same kind of problem as @jbright3,
I have a dropbox payed personnel account with less than 1To on my computers,
Inside this there is all my professionnal data, and a 8Go folder for my child, who has a specific login account on the computers,
I just bought her an iPad, I thought I could make selective sync with it,
If I enter my own dropbox identifyer in the iPad, she can see all my pro data, and if she looses it at her college, I just dont want to imagine the consequences for me...
If I create a free dropbox account for her on her iPad, and share the 8Go fodler she has with the computers, it cannot work because free account is limited to 2Go,
so what would be the right solution ?
on a mobile computer I would have set selective sync on dropbox,
but with the iPad I dont find how to,
thanks
@Jim5
Unfortunately there is no solution to that as there is no need for selective sync on a mobile device, and, unfortuanetly Dropbox simply is not intended to be used in the way you are using it - it is intended that it is used 1 person / 1 account.
Hi
thanks for the answer, even if it does not seem very constructive for me...
do you think in a 5 persons family, we sould have 5 dropbox, so 500$/year ? It does not sound very realistic to me...
I think that Dropbox should offer a family subscription, with several partial accounts in it, like some other services are proposing.
regards
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