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Old versions of Documents replacing new versions

I have two laptops, Windows 8.1 (my main device) and Windows 10 which I rarely use. 8.1 had to go into a repair shop so i set about setting up dropbox on W10 with dropbox. It had some old files on it from the last synch several months back.

When i checked on the synch - and luckily for me it was very slow - i found that W10 was uploading the old files to my dropbox account (instead of download everything from dropbox as I had expected it to do) which was then downloading the old files to my main 8.1 machine.

I unlinked W10 pc very quickly from dropbox otherwise all my new files on the 8.1 would have been replaced with the old version from w10 and months of work lost.

I never expected this to happen. It's very strange. Surely there must be a flaw with dropbox. Surely there should be some mechanism to check file properties and the synch should only upload/download documents that are not already on the server account.

I now need to use both laptops, one in the office and one on the move so files need to be all synched properly on both laptops but how can i be sure old won't replace new?

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Jane

Hey @mrswilliam & @Wilu, I appreciate it that you both circled back to me here letting me know of your current state of affairs. Initially I’m glad to hear that you’ve both been able to work around the previous syncing issues & I’m here to send you some pro-active tips for future reference!

Now @mrswilliam, I’m right on the same page with you after the last bit you added in your last post that your deleted files re-appeared & I can confirm that you took the most appropriate course of action, therefore you may reference the same set of steps in case you experience that again in the future.

Spoiler

Often when you delete files or folders, they don’t immediately disappear from every synced computer. If you have a synced computer running an application that is using the file, that will cause the file to reappear in your Dropbox account. Or, if you’re seeing a shared file or folder reappear after deletion, it may be that a person you shared it with is accessing it.

If you check the previous versions of the file and see that it was accessed from an application on another computer, you can delete it off of that computer to stop it from reappearing in your Dropbox.

Following, when it comes to your remarks @Wilu, you may have an additional look on my post here that explains how Conflicted Copies are created & ways to avoid them, as well as some tips regarding versioning.

Once again, thanks a lot to both for your ongoing cooperation & contribution on this conversation, it’s been a pleasure discussing this behavior with you, as each interaction helped me shape a slightly more coherent picture of what you were experiencing.

Our Community wall is always open to further inquiries or feedback & it’ll be a pleasure to hear back from you in the future. Happy syncing & take care until we talk again!

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Jane

Hey @mrswilliam, thanks for posting your syncing concern on our Dropbox Community & for all the time you devoted to send us such a detailed post I’ll do my best to address your inquiries as closely as possible!

Let me quickly rephrase your description, in order to make sure we’re on the same page. At a certain point you linked a Win10 machine to your Dropbox account & it retrieved an older version of your files (probably via an older Dropbox folder left on that device), that was then synced to your second Win8 device. It seems that upon realizing that, you unlinked your Win10 device, though you’d like to prevent this from re-occurring. Am I on the right track?

If so, then you may keep in mind that this is expected, since upon re-linking your Win10 device, Dropbox realized that it was offline & tried to resync (that is because file changes made on an offline device will sync back to Dropbox as soon as the device is online again).

Spoiler

You may keep in mind that to keep your Dropbox in sync, we use a local database maintained by the Dropbox application on the computer to keep track of file and folder changes. File and folder changes are logged in this database, and the Dropbox application will match this local database with what is found on dropbox.com and on other computers. These logs are generated even when the computer is offline so it can sync when it comes back online.

For that reason, I’d suggest taking a different course of action to get this fixed. You may unlink your device from this account> delete the Dropbox folder you have on your Win10 device (don’t worry- all your files are safe online) & relink anew. This should do the trick for you (by recreating the local database), as it will download the most recent version of your files from your account online.

Let me know how you get on with that or in case you have further questions & I’ll make sure to reach out to you asap @mrswilliam. Thanks again for reaching out to us!

Wilu

Hi, I have a similar problem:

when both my Computers are online, I have no problem to synchronize: I change a file on one CP, a few seconds later I get the new version A on the second CP and vice versa. If one CP is offline (Dropbox off) I get a mess: I can change my document to version B, save on Dropbox and later, when I open Dropbox on the second CP it will sync my document to old version A on both CP, losing the new version B totally.

How can I prevent this?

Jane

Hey Wilu, let me clarify a bit for you below!

<SPAN class=" author-d-iz88z86z86za0dz67zz78zz78zz74zz68zjz80zz71z9iz90za3z66zsz65z7gz85zz86zz70zz79zz80z3z85z6z87ziz78zz83zigfz86zz80z5z80zblcz70zz86z">If one CP is offline (Dropbox off) I get a mess: I can change my document to version B, save on Dropbox and later, when I open Dropbox on the second CP it will sync my document to old version A on both CP, losing the new version B totally.</SPAN>

Based on your description, it seems that both devices are intermittently disconnected, therefore the issue you’re facing with files reverting to an earlier version may have to do with an incorrect installation. I’d suggest starting off from there, in order to understand what could have possibly gone wrong.

Here are the initial recommended checks to tackle this discrepancy:

Can you confirm that you’re running the latest Stable version of the application on your computers (57.4.89) :arrows_counterclockwise:/ :white_check_mark:, you’ve made all OS updates & you’re not using Symlinks nor referenced files? (Based on your description, it’s my understanding that you’ve only installed Dropbox on these two devices, which you can easily check on your Security tab online.)

From there, you may running a brief test by syncing a newer version of a file after toggling your WiFi to Off> Update locally & Sync, which will indicate what happened. (Note: It would be best if you could repeat on each device.)

Last but not least, in case you suspect that something similar may occur, you could use the Web Uploader to update your files, which will replace the older version with the new one.

Let me know of how you get on with these pointers or in case you have any update & I’ll do my best to check back with you more closely!

Wilu

Hi Jane,

- where / how can I read the version Number of my Dropbox?

- I am not using Symlinks

- I have checked Security: ok

- if I run both CP with open Dropbox, syncing works fine from both sides: I get File version(1) on both CP

- if CP B is off and I update a file on CP A to file version(2), save and then start CP B, I get file version(1) synced on both CP. I have now found a copy of the file version(2) with a conflict-comment

- I think, the idea of using a web-uploader to update the files is not the idea of Dropbox

- is it correct, that we have 3 copies of the files: 1 each on CP A, CP B and in the "Dropbox-Cloud"?

mrswilliam

I'm going to have the same issues as Wilu. Both my W8.1 and W10 laptops are not going to be on and synching at the same time. 8.1 is my main PC used in the office.

W10 is the one I use occasionally when on the move... this could be offline for several days.

So if for example, I have a "Test.v01" file saved on W10 when I last used/synched this device. Since then I have revised and saved "Test.v02" on W8.1. Then Two weeks later i use/synch W10 - will this now upload Test.v01 to dropbox? Will it replace the new version Test.v02 on W8.1 while synching?

If yes, than I will lose the work I've done on Test.v02.

I could end up losing a lot of work I do on W8.1 in the interim 2 weeks before using restarting W10

Jane

Thank you both for your swift & detailed replies here @Wilu & @mrswilliam & please accept my apologies for the slight delay in replying.

When it comes to your setup @Wilu, it appears that everything is working as expected, though let me explain below:

<SPAN class=" author-d-iz88z86z86za0dz67zz78zz78zz74zz68zjz80zz71z9iz90za3z66zsz65z7gz85zz86zz70zz79zz80z3z85z6z87ziz78zz83zigfz86zz80z5z80zblcz70zz86z">where / how can I read the version Number of my Dropbox?</SPAN>

If you’re using a pc, it should be on your bottom right-hand corner. Once you hover your mouse over the Dropbox icon, you’ll see the syncing status (eg. Up-To-Date, Indexing &c) & the version you’re running (Note: It’s 58.4.92 as of today).

<SPAN class=" author-d-iz88z86z86za0dz67zz78zz78zz74zz68zjz80zz71z9iz90za3z66zsz65z7gz85zz86zz70zz79zz80z3z85z6z87ziz78zz83zigfz86zz80z5z80zblcz70zz86z">- is it correct, that we have 3 copies of the files: 1 each on CP A, CP B and in the "Dropbox-Cloud"?</SPAN>

Yes, that’s absolutely right, the website should be mirroring the changes made on each device.

<SPAN class=" author-d-iz88z86z86za0dz67zz78zz78zz74zz68zjz80zz71z9iz90za3z66zsz65z7gz85zz86zz70zz79zz80z3z85z6z87ziz78zz83zigfz86zz80z5z80zblcz70zz86z">- if CP B is off and I update a file on CP A to file version(2), save and then start CP B, I get file version(1) synced on both CP. I have now found a copy of the file version(2) with a conflict-comment</SPAN>

Now, in order to trace back the behavior you’re mentioning on my end (& because you’ve mentioned that you’re also getting conflicting copies), let me investigate in a bit more depth having all our tools available & further advise how you could tackle this behavior. For that I’ve made sure to reach out to you directly via email on my end, so as to check on one specific example.

Whenever you find some time, please check your inbox for my email & I’ll make sure to promptly get back in touch with you asap.

Secondly, when it come to your current setup @mrswilliam (& based on your description), if you power your machine at regular intervals, then you shouldn’t be having an issue. It was my initial understanding that the issue appeared since you hadn’t switched on your Win10 device for a long time. In any event, to further investigate what could’ve gone wrong & further advise accordingly, I’ve made sure to reach out to you on my end, in order to determine the cause of this discrepancy.

Once you get back in touch with me, I’ll promptly follow-up with you in more detail. Thanks again for all your cooperation & prompt messages!

Wilu

Hi Jane,

thanks for your reply. It seems, Dropbox is not checking the date/time of the files. I would expect that Dropbox is warning me, that there are different versions of a document. This should happen when uploading to the web and downloading to the computer. As long as both computers are online simultaneously it’s clear Dropbox is working fine. Files are changed immediately. I do not understand the logic thatfiles from offline-CP always have to replace existing files. Of coures it has to check and upload non-synced files, but only with careful checks. For me it is quite normal, that not all PC‘s are online simultaneously and I work on different systems. By replacing newer versions with old versions I have lost unrepeatable work.

mrswilliam

I concur with everything Wilu has just said. I would expect Dropbox to check dates/times files were created and not to replace new with old.

Jane

Hey @mrswilliam & @Wilu, let me explain this in a bit more depth. Please note that Dropbox will try to find the latest file version & upload the bit that’s missing. Before transferring a file, we compare the new file to the previous version and only send the piece of the file that changed. This is called a “binary diff" and works on any file type.

During our discussion I suspected that while you’ve got the most recent version of your files on your account online (i.e. the version that contains the info you’d like to sync across your devices) with timestamp x, there could be an application that’s injecting metadata (but not extra info) on your files locally while you’re working offline perhaps (i.e. that should be understood by your OS & then Dropbox as timestamp y). When you re-linked the desktop app after a long time, it may have recognized that your files were modified at a later date than the one recorded online, therefore it synced the last version it could find.

That is merely my idea of what could have gone wrong, as your last comment does apply on the Dropbox logic & that’s also my reasoning for reaching out to you directly, since I needed to examine a concrete example from each account & advise on how to best proceed from this point onwards.

In any event, let me re-iterate that I raised a ticket on your behalf & could also forward your requests to a restoration specialist if need be, in order to restore any missing content back to your accounts

I hope my reply makes this a bit more clear & please do keep me updated on how you’d like us to proceed on either channel of communication. Thanks again!

mrswilliam

Jane

Thanks for the info.

i think I'm OK now. My problem did indeed arise because I hadn't synched W10 for a long while and it contained loads of old files which had been deleted both from W8.1 and Online and they started reappearing again. I stopped, unlinked and uninstalled Dropbox from W10 quickly enough to stop it doing any damage. Both W8.1 and W10 are synching OK right now.

My problem will arise again in the future should I leave one or the other PCs in limbo - ie. not use it for a while which means it won't synch. Deleted files may start reappearing again. But as long as they don't replace new files of the same name than its OK.

Wilu

Hi Jane,

I think I understand Dropbox now better and I will use it in the following way:

- on a regular basis (system online) nothing special: change documents, syncing etc

- if I am offline for a long time, I will make a backup-copy of my changed files, before syncing! Just to be sure not to lose my work.

- unless Dropbox will warn me in future of conflicts or make an automatic back-up.

Dear Jane, thanks for your support and regards to mrswilliam

Jane

Spoiler

Our Community wall is always open to further inquiries or feedback & it’ll be a pleasure to hear back from you in the future. Happy syncing & take care until we talk again!