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Smart Sync is default to online-only but not working

Hi all,

In my Smart Sync settings, I have the default set to online-only. i.e. new files should be set to online-only.

However, whenever someone adds a new folder+files to my shared folder, it selectively syncs to the folder and all files. I thought that it would show in explorer, but only in online-only mode...

Thanks!

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Sanchez

Hey @pbuckland,

In short, when you disable Smart Sync, the Selective Sync settings will apply.

When Smart Sync is enabled on an account, the default settings apply for new content only, so your existing files/folders are not affected unless the Smart Sync settings are manually changed.

Since your users are finding it difficult to manage both features, I understand that you want to disable Smart Sync, and have them only work with Selective Sync. Another way to do this would be to have each user set their preferences to Local for new files, go in and change to local any online-only content that they have manually set on existing content, and then only use the Selective Sync settings to manage things. Alternatively, they could select to sync all folders from the Selective Sync settings, and then use Smart Sync to manage it all.

Cheers

All comments

Jane

Hey @pbuckland,

I’ll try my best to shed some light on your inquiries below & thanks for getting in touch on the Community!

<SPAN class=" author-d-iz88z86z86za0dz67zz78zz78zz74zz68zjz80zz71z9iz90za3z66zsz65z7gz85zz86zz70zz79zz80z3z85z6z87ziz78zz83zigfz86zz80z5z80zblcz70zz86z">In my Smart Sync settings, I have the default set to online-only. i.e. new files should be set to online-only.</SPAN>

You may bear in mind that, regardless of the default option set by the team admin (i.e. Start new files as online-only), your Selective Sync settings shouldn’t be affected, as the two features can work independently. That being said, if you’ve already Selectively synced your folders, this setting will not change, hence you’ll still be able to see the latest updates online, though these will not sync down to your device.

Of course, you can change the content you have available locally & switch between Selective Sync/ Smart Sync at any time by re-applying your Smart Sync & Selective settings, following these tips.

I hope my advice is helpful to you, though it’ll be my pleasure to follow-up with more details, just let me know your follow-up questions in your next post here. Happy Friday!

Rich

@Jane

Although @pbuckland uses the phrase "selective sync" I don't believe he's referring to the actual Selective Sync feature within Dropbox. I believe his complaint is that even though he has his entire Dropbox set to Online Only, new folders that are added within a share are still being downloaded to his computer. I don't think Selective Sync is actually being used here.

Jane

Could be so @Rich, though I'm curious as to whether my assumptions matched his experience, hence I focused more on what @pbuckland described initially. I may be wrong, so if this is the case, I hope I’ll be given the chance to modify my initial advice in my next reply below…

pbuckland

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. Let me try to clarify a little.

I have a shared folder, a sub-folder of this, and many many folders under this.

Something like this:

- Shared folder
- Sub folder
- Folder 1
- Folder 2
- Folder 3
- Folder 4
- ...
- Folder 195
- Folder 196
- Folder 197

Before Smart Sync started for us yesterday, I had selectively synced only Folder 1 and Folder 2, so only those two showed on my local PC.

When the Dropbox app set up Smart Sync for me, I selected the option to make all other non-selectively synced folders online-only. I then made all of "Shared folder" sync in the selective sync preferences, and the online-only folders now show without syncing locally. All is good in the world.

However, when another user creates a new folder, say "Folder 198", that folder is downloaded to my PC immediately. I would like any new folders like this one to show up, but in online-only mode. I don't want to have to manually set it to online-only once it has syced locally. I thought the setting would make any new folders online-only by default.

Cheers,
Paul

Minato

Hey @pbuckland,

Can you send us a screenshot of the the Sync tab and of the Selective Sync settings, so we can perform a more thorough investigation?

Both of the above are located on the Preferences of the app and to go there just click once on the System Tray icon, then click on the Gear icon and select Preferences option.

I hope to hear from you soon!

pbuckland

Hi,

Here are my settings:

Selective sync.png

If another user adds a folder under "projects - active only" (so another new black rectangle), that folder is selectively synced to my PC and all it's contents downloaded. I expected it to automatically be selectively synced - that's no problem - but I expected it to default to online-only, but it has defaulted to local instead, and all it's content has downloaded.

This is a problem for many of our employees, as these folders can be huge and unknowingly take up their hard drive space.

Thanks,

Paul

Norah

Hey @pbuckland, thanks for all the information provided!

As this is an issue that needs thorough investigation could you raise a ticket with our team here so that we can troubleshoot further for you?

Once you’ve raised the ticket please include the ID and I’ll make sure that a colleague handles your case asap.

Thanks in advance for your reply!

pbuckland

Many thanks, appreciate it.

My ticket number is #7804597, although I suspect it has been logged against my personal Dropbox account instead of my business one.

Cheers,

Paul

Norah

Hey @pbuckland!

I’ve located the ticket you created and we’ll handle your case from there.

Let me know if you need anything further!

pbuckland

Please change this post so that there is not an accepted solution - I think I've figured it out but would like confirmation (the people on this thread appear to understand a lot more than the support person I have been talking to).

The setting in preferences about new files being local or online-only when created only applies to new top-level folders. This means that any new sub folders will still always start as local mode and fully download to the HDD. My hope was that this was not the case, but it appears the functionality to have new folders not sync is still not available.

A big problem now, is that our users have two different systems to deal with - selective sync and smart sync. It's hard enough to get people to understand how selective sync works, but with smart sync as well, it will be a nightmare. Is there any way to disable Smart Sync for all our users? Or just some users?

Here's a reason it's terrible news for us. In my example above, I was synced to a few folders out of about 200 of them. When Smart Sync was introduced, all non-selectively synced folders/files were automatically set to online-only by Dropbox. This means that if I now want to sync to one of those folders, I have to turn selective sync on for that folders AS WELL AS turning the folder to local mode. This is going to cause all sorts of problems for us, and we urgently need to disable it.

Please advise.

Sanchez

Hey @pbuckland,

You’re right about new content defaulting to local, even if it’s created in, or added to, a Smart Synced folder. You’re also right about having to turn on Selective Sync, and changing the Smart Sync setting to local, if you want to sync a previously non-Selectively Synced folder.

Your team admin can set the default Smart Sync action for all team members, as shown here.

Now, as far as disabling Smart Sync, that currently isn’t an option. What you can do is to have the default action as Set new files as local, and then use Selective Sync to manage things.

I know this isn’t ideal for you, and I’m letting the team know about your comments and concerns.

Thanks

pbuckland

Hi,

Actually, your link suggests that we can in fact disable Smart Sync by opting out of the extension.

My only concern, though, is what will happen to online-only folders/files when we opt out? If I have selectively synced to a file, but set it to online-only, when I opt out will that file just become normal selectively synced (so the same as if it was "local" Smart Synced)? Or is it un-selectively synced?

Thanks,

Paul

Sanchez

Hey again, @pbuckland,

I’ve reached out to our specialist for clarification on your question, and hope to get you an answer asap.

Cheers!

Sanchez

Hey @pbuckland,

In short, when you disable Smart Sync, the Selective Sync settings will apply.

When Smart Sync is enabled on an account, the default settings apply for new content only, so your existing files/folders are not affected unless the Smart Sync settings are manually changed.

Cheers

pbuckland

Thanks,

However that doesn't tell me whether the selectively synced file that are online-only will download once Smart Sync has been disabled.

For example, with selective sync on and online-only set, files are there but with no content (empty files). If I disable Smart Sync, I wouldn't be surprised if the empty files then sync to the cloud. Hopefully that's not the case but I wouldn't want to try it without first having reassurance it won't happen.

I've also noticed another problem - I've selectively synced to a bunch of folders and set them to online-only. I then un-selectively synced them, expecting them to disappear, but all the empty files are still on my local drive. They aren't syncing, and have no Dropbox icon on the folder icon, but they're still there. This is really concerning.

Thanks,

Paul

Sanchez

Hey again, @pbuckland,

Let’s make sure we’re on the same page here with the terminology. When a folder is Selectively Synced, it is syncing to your computer. If you have set this folder to online-only with Smart Sync, then the folder is removed from your computer, and you just see a placeholder.

If you now disable Smart Sync, your Selective Sync setting that still exist, will come into play, causing the folder to sync to your computer again.

As for the last part of your question, what happens if you attempt to open these “empty” files? Have you restarted the computer, and they are still there?

Cheers