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Can't switch to online only

I've got a file that's pretty big and I've put it up to dropbox with selective sync. The original version of the file is on an external hard drive. When I switched the dropbox folder to online only (click the grey cloud) it doesn't switch and it has now downloaded the contents of the folder onto this machine and it's taking up all of my space.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Joshua

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Walter

Hey there @ajbentley - sorry to hear about this; let's take a look now.

When using Selective Sync, and choosing to sync a folder you had previously excluded on the desktop client, you may notice the files appearing with a grey cloud icon beside them. This means that the files are ‘online-only’. You can see and interact with these files as normal, but they take up practically no space on your computer.

Through our Smart Sync feature you now have greater control and can sync only the folders or files you need by right clicking, choosing Smart Sync and then selecting 'Local'. This helps optimize your hard disk usage.

Once we have returned these 'online-only' files/folders through Selective Sync you can now see the files and folders and then proceed with re-downloading only the content you need and want.

If a file has been synced locally that you would prefer to have online-only, simply right click on it and select online-only from the Smart Sync menu.

Let me know how this goes Joshua.

All comments

Walter

Hey there @ajbentley - sorry to hear about this; let's take a look now.

Once we have returned these 'online-only' files/folders through Selective Sync you can now see the files and folders and then proceed with re-downloading only the content you need and want.

If a file has been synced locally that you would prefer to have online-only, simply right click on it and select online-only from the Smart Sync menu.

Let me know how this goes Joshua.

thedragan

I tried right-clicking and selecting "Online Only"... nothing changes

Walter

Sorry to hear that @thedragan.

Could you send me a screenshot of this and the exact status of the desktop app so I can investigate further?

Spoiler

You can always look at the Dropbox icon in your taskbar (Windows) or menu bar (Mac) and see if it is done syncing. When Dropbox is fully synced then you should see a tick followed by the words “Up to date” on the menu.

If you do not see this then can you please let me know what the message being displayed reads?

Thanks!

Tinkerman

Same problem, what's the answer???

VRGTNE

Was this problem ever solved? Because I am having the same problem...

Rich

It would be best to describe the exact problem as it relates to you. Saying "same problem" isn't always accurate because your configuration may be different from the original author. For instance, the original author is talking about using Selective Sync, Smart Sync and an external drive.

What, exactly, is the problem you're having?

Peter S.106

Same problem. On my MacBook Pro when I select "Online Only" for a folder or file in Selective Sync, the icon changes to the blue circle with the arrows, to show that it is loading or thinking. Then after that it goes to "Local". I've checked and the Dropbox extension is installed without any problems. I clicked on some large folders to go "Online Only" that had some files that were already "Online Only" and some that weren't. The trouble is they all seem to be going to "Local" and right now the drive is filling up and is close to be critically full.

Lusil

Hey there @Peter S.106, I just wanted to follow up and check if you're still having trouble with selecting content to be Smart Synced on your computer.

If you are, could you please let me know what you see when you hover over your Dropbox icon that's next to your computer's clock and, if possible, send me a screenshot (without any personal info) of it?

Thanks in advance!

Roth

I cannot use the on-line only feature. I go to the app, right click, hover over smartsync, select online only.... nothing happens. Reverts back to Local.

Lusil

Hey there @Roth, let's see what we can find.

Many processes on your machine look at files that you may not have manually opened and, in order to fulfill these requests, Dropbox syncs the files.

If there are apps that constantly do this (such as backup services, antivirus, and other third party apps that monitor files), your files may go back to local, just as you described.

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

Let me know how it goes!

galatea52

I am having the exact same problem. I have tried multiple times to switch a file and folder from local to online only. And it will just switch back. I have tried removing the files from the drop box folder then reuploading them in folder already designated to be online only, and again the file is local. I'm almost completely out of space on my hard drive and have no idea what to do. I need help resolving this.

galatea52

FYI - YOU APPARENTLY NEED TO "ENABLE" SMART SYNC IN PREFERENCES. NO IDEA WHY THEY WOULD SET IT UP THIS WAY, BUT NOW IT'S WORKING.

VRGTNE

It took quite a while, but eventually the smart sync started to work. Sometimes it can take several minutes or more to sync if its a large file.

nepenthes

@galatea52 Thank you so much!! YOU solved the problem for me. I really appreciate you posting that. I never would have guessed it - why show the option and make it look like the user can act upon it when they can't? That UX needs an update.

yes4

@galatea52 been yelling at this for +1 hours THANK YOU.

translateltd54

I'm not even seeing Smart Sync in my preferences. I did try the "online only" option a few months ago, and created a folder, added a file to it as a test, set it to "online only" and it reverted to "local" almost immediately. Soon after, I couldn't see the "online only" option any longer, and still can't. I just had a look at my preferences as suggested above, and there's no sign of it.

EDIT: I was looking in my preferences online when I wrote the above; in my local file manager I can right-click and select "online only", so have tried a few folders and will check again tomorrow to see if they've reverted again this time round.

Martin

psltracker

I tried hard right-clicking and selecting "Online Only". but nothing changes

Hey_Ho

Had the same problem. Dropbox seems to want to download it all, only when complete the local/online options will work. But as my dropbox contains more files than my hard drive has space, this is not an option. Tried a couple of things, this workaround worked:

- First, in preferences, select "Save hard drive space automatically". I put it to online-only, for new files.

- In preferences, go to the selective sync options and DESELECT all the folders. Click Apply.

- Wait untill all the folders from dropbox are gone from your local drive.

- Go back to the selective sync options and select all the folders you want visible on your computer. They will then be added online-only.

...and then you can right-click on the folders to mark a few of them Local!

translateltd54

That might be the way forward for big uploads in future - thanks!

dropducks000000

Everything was perfectly set up but all of a sudden dropbox switched all folders to "local" start downloading all the files back and locks up. Even the uninstaller locks up. You really should have a "set all folders to online-only" setting. That is the whole point of dropbox. I've been banging my head against the wall for hours now with this.

translateltd54

I seem to have got it stable now, but it's taken some work. If I copy anything out of the online-only file, it starts downloading *everything* to my HD again, so I have to make sure that folder is excluded from whole-drive backups to an external HD, for example.

51m0n

I am moving VHS video content on to my Mac. This is creating very large files which I am then individually selecting to be online only. This has been working well until now. However, with the latest file I have converted from VHS, Dropbox won't let me select 'Local' or 'Online Only'. I can go through the process of selecting 'Online Only' (see below)

Dropbox issue.jpg

but my selection does not 'take' and neither 'Local' or 'Online Only' have a tick beside them. Currently Dropbox is telling me that it is downloading the file having just spent 11 hours syncing it with Dropbox!

Help!

51m0n

This problem has sorted itself out. After the file uploaded to Dropbox (11 hours!), Dropbox then seemed to need to download it again to complete the sync process (?). I was trying to select 'Online Only' when the sync was still in process (ie I had the two arrows on a blue circle) so I think that's why it wouldn't take immediately.

Xander

Galatea57! My saviour!

But what a stupendous thing that you need to enable this option after installation while you already select To enable it during installation!

It doesn't work. Cant switch content to online only. clicking but it just keeps reverting to local. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Lusil

Hey @zj, thanks for nudging us on this thread.

If you have files that are being set to local instead of online-only, you can have a look at this article which gives some additional info on the matter.

Check it out and let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks!

jlchambe77

Switching to online only worked for my other computer, but on this one, it does not give me the option on "online only", it only have "Local". What to i need to change on my computer to fix this?

jlchambe77

Spoiler

Never mind, I fixed it by going into Drop box preferances, and going though the steps to activate sync.

DumbSync

@Lusil wrote:
Hey @zj, thanks for nudging us on this thread.

If you have files that are being set to local instead of online-only, you can have a look at this article which gives some additional info on the matter.

Check it out and let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks!

It is absolutely extraordinary that one needs to read this article in order to keep files online only. We all use back-up. I have now excluded my DB folder from CCC and TimeMachine -- but it remains impossible to select Online Only.

OS X latest.

What is the meaning under preferences of "Let my admin manage this setting" ? I am my admin and can manage nothing if this setting is on or off.

Lusil

Hi @DumbSync, thanks for reaching out to us.

If you're part of a Business team, the team admin can have can manage the Smart Sync settings for their teams.

Although this might be the case, team members can change their device settings to a different default at a later point in time.

Hope this helps.