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conflicting copies and deleted files still appearing

For weeks now we have been seeing the same users getting conflicting copies in there group dropbox folders. These users won't ever open these specific files therefore don't understand why the same files constantly have conflicting files.
This is not the only problem users have been complaining that when they've deleted files from dropbox that the next day these files have reappeared again.
Help with this is much appreciated.

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Jane

Hey @andrew_s,

Glad to troubleshot this with you on the Dropbox Community!

Based on your description, this shouldn’t be happening. If both your computers are running the latest stable version of the application and there is no other user accessing these files at the same time, then what you’re seeing is quite unexpected.

Just in order to understand the issue correctly, could you please let me know if Dropbox is running on a Network Access Server or any other Network file system accessing the Dropbox folder, hence keeping the files on the Dropbox folder constantly open?

Also, could you let me know whether there are any libraries (like media or photos libraries) accessing the Dropbox folder constantly, hence keeping the files open and creating the conflicted copies?

If the reply is negative to the above possible reasons, please let me know in your reply!

Warm regards,

JaneA

andrew_s

Jane

All my computers are running Dropbox 26.4.24. The primary computer is on Windows 7 Pro and the (two) secondary computers are on Windows 10 Pro.

The conflicted file issue occurs when syncing to either of my secondary computers.

There is no Network Access Server involved. In each case the Dropbox folder is on the main hard disk of the computer involved.

There are no other media or photo systems accessing the Dropbox folder.

The file-types affected are usually a mixture, but the problem often happens with some (but not all) .pst (Outlook) files in a folder of archived copies. However Outlook itself is not running on the secondary machine and the copies on the primary machines are not the live files (which are held outside the Dropbox file tree) but copies taken when Outlook is not running there.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Jane

Hey @andrew_s,

Thanks for the swift reply, much appreciated!

I’d be more than glad to investigate more through our support channel, so that we work on an example file together and locate the potential causes, since you mention that this is device-specific. There, I could add more members of the team to have a look into that, as well.

Please write in to support, mentioning some example filenames and let me know in your reply once you have done so, just to locate your ticket.

Will be awaiting your reply!

Warm regards,

JaneA

andrew_s

JaneA

Please see ticket #5937195

Incidentally one does not get on-screen confirmation when a ticket is accepted, the user is just redirected to the general help pages. So I ended up raising three trouble tickets before email confirmations started to arrive!

Jane

Hey @andrew_s,

Thanks for the ticket ID, much appreciated!

I 've made sure that our discussion here has been transferred on our Support channel and the case has been sent for further review to a specialist, who will better advise on how to have this resolved.

Again, your cooperation means a lot to me, I was to glad to work on that with you.

If further help is required, just let me know here.

Kind regards,

JaneA

csharon

We are actually having this issue as well. It varies with Excel and adobe products whether is be photoshop or indesign. The users don't even have to be logged on or working on the folder and conflicting copies will appear. They are all working in seperate folders, all windows 10, and it seems to happen when the machines are syncing when the users first log in for the morning.

We have our machines set to never turn off, never sleep, and users may log out at best.

Hopefully support has some more information why this is happening. Apparently the users here just dealt with it until it got worse over time.

Jane

Hey @csharon,

Welcome to the Dropbox Community, thanks for reaching out here about this issue.

I can see that you have already submitted a ticket on this issue and my colleague has reached back out to you requesting more information. At your convenience, could you please check your email inbox for their reply and let me know here if you're unable to locate it? Please include any details regarding the case there and we'll be gladto follow-up with you and determine the issue.

Hope this gets resolved soon!

Warm regards,

JaneA

andrew_s

Thanks @csharon

The point "it seems to happen when the machines are syncing when the users first log in for the morning" may be significant. I have tried cancelling the Dropbox process on startup and then manually starting the process after about an hour after login. This seems to give far fewer conflicted files - sometimes none at all.

I also notice that large files seem more likely to be marked as conflicted than smaller ones.

One hypothesis for the observed effect is that there is some other process (Windows Indexer?) that runs on log-in and is *reading* the files. When the Dropbox scanner comes to the file it finds that it is open and so assumes that it is being *modified* - and so marks the local copy as conflicted (since it was opened before the synchronisation has taken place). When the other process closes the file unmodified Dropbox has already put it on the conflicted list.

This hypothesis would also explain why:

the effect only seems to be observed with "indexable" files
the effect seems to happen mainly with large files (because they will be open for indexing longer than smaller files)
the 'conflicted' version of the file is identical (tested by using Dropbox's version restore facility and then a binary diff) to the previous correct version on the source machine, although the modification time has changed.

It may be that Dropbox needs a better approach to handling files that it finds open while seeking to synchronise?

andrew_s

@Jane Thanks. I have reopened the trouble ticket as the response did not really address the issue. @csharon's post and my further comment online might help pin down what is happening.

Jane

Hey @andrew_s,

Thanks for keeping me updated!

Got you on that, I 've made sure to prioritize your request, since we've been troubleshooting together for some time. I can see this has been sent over to our team specialists for further review and you will hear back from them on your open support request soon.

Hope this is helpful for you, again I truly appreciate your ongoing patience and cooperation on the matter.

Warm regards,

JaneA

csharon

Support basically had me check anti viruses, paths, and other common causes. Which were not the case. We also did not leave programs running or have connection issues. I'm building them a list of the files that are having the issues which are sporadic at best. Usually this is just a runaround though and has not solved the root issue.

+1 to the andrew_s and possible indexing issues

fazridz1

I'm having the same exact issue.

Jane

Hey @fazridz1, while this is an outdated discussion, I’m wondering what this looks like on your end. Are you facing an issue with Conflicted copies as the OP has described or is has the issue you’re currently seeing manifested differently on your end?

Any detail you could include on this discussion would be very helpful & rest assured that I’m here to help as much as possible. Thanks in advance for any insight you could provide!

andrew_s

Just to say that I have *not* seen this issue for many months, although I have been running much the same configuration as before.