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How to identify what files are "online only" and change them to local?

I hope someone can help. I have never intentionally turned on Smart Sync. I always want all my files and documents to be local as well as in Dropbox. After adding a 3rd Mac, last month when I launched my Dropbox App, its new incarnation immediately wants you to Smart Sync. I thought I said no thanks, but now even though my Dropbox App Icon in the Mac Menu bar says everything is up to date and synced, but when you look in a Finder window the main Dropbox file has the blue arrow syncing icon and a mouse hover says "in progress."

I have NO IDEA what is in progress, since nothing should be.

When I check on the newer Mac in Finder that Dropbox folder has a green check mark and hovering over that says "Some files are on-line only" - what?! LOL....

How do you tell what files are "online only" and how to you stop this?

Thanks!!!!!

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Megan

Hey @Edgemont, I hope you're doing well!

You should be able to see which files are online-only, by looking at the file's icon when you open your Dropbox desktop application.

Can you also let me know your app's syncing status?

Sending me a screenshot of the message you receive about the online-only files would be extremely helpful.

Keep me posted.

Edgemont

Hi Lori!

Thank you so much for your response! I can't explain why, but now it suddenly all seems normal again!

The Syncing Status always said "Up to Date" - which is why this made no sense.

The main folder in Finder ("Dropbox") had a clear circle with green checkmark and green circumference, which indicates "contains both local and on-line only files" - when I hovered over that check it said "some files are on-line only" which I could not understand why or see exactly which of the hundreds of files I have in DB these could be!

I have this account set up on 4 separate Macs and an iPhone, but all I could think to do was log out and login, but it still did this. However inexplicably the next day it was solid green and local like it always used to be.

Hopefully it will stay this way, but if you make some be online only, how do you tell which files or documents those are if they have disappeared from your Mac? I never use the actual application, just have folder and aliases on my desktop that I drag & drop files into, and rarely go online.

Thanks for your help!

Megan

Hey @Edgemont, I am happy to see that everything works smoothly now!

Keep in mind that Dropbox doesn't support aliases, and this could be the main root of the issue.

In order for files to sync, they would need to be placed within your Dropbox folder.

Also, with Smart Sync, your online-only files should be visible within your Dropbox folder and the icons next to those files should show up as grey little clouds.

I believe you should also read this article, which you will most likely find useful.

Edgemont

Hi Lori:

I'm a bit confused about the alias comment, since I've been successfully using dropbox aliases for years on my desktop without issue.

The main Dropbox folder is in my Mac (Mac HD>User>UserName>Dropbox)

The alias of that folder is visible on my Desktop, as are certain other alias folders for other folders inside that main Dropbox folder.

This way I can drag and drop things I want into a folder on the Desktop of each of my Macs (like "Bills to Pay") and they are there when I am home or at work or on my iPhone. I've never experienced any issues with that and they still all work as expected. To be honest, its the main reason I use Dropbox instead of iCloud (and that iCloud forces you to use your AppleID and I don't like the idea of sending people links to anything connected to my AppleID.)

Re: Smart Sync

I never ever have anything set to online only, but what is still completely confusing about Smart Sync or "online only" is the language it has in the explanation that says that 'items you haven't used in a while Dropbox moves them to be online only and removes them from your computer to save space' (yikes). If it does that, you wouldn't see a little cloud because the item would no longer be in your Mac, correct? - which makes me presume that the only way you'd see this is if you logged into and looked at all your actual Dropbox items in the actual Dropbox online cloud, which would mean having to open hundreds of nested folders online to find some item with a little cloud. (LOL)

Rich

@Edgemont wrote:
The alias of that folder is visible on my Desktop, as are certain other alias folders for other folders inside that main Dropbox folder.

Your aliases are outside of Dropbox, looking in. That's fine as Dropbox doesn't know they exist. Dropbox only knows about the actual folders inside your Dropbox folder. What isn't supported is when you have a folder located elsewhere on your computer and an alias inside the Dropbox folder looking out. In the past, Dropbox would sync the files at the other end of the alias, allowing you to sync folders and files that weren't located within the Dropbox folder. That behavior changed a couple years ago and is now no longer supported.

Edgemont

Thanks for that explanation Rich! That makes total sense. I never knew once upon a time DB could see an alias that the original wasn't inside its DB - that's wild.

RogerCourville

Is there a way to identify and switch ALL online-only files and folders (without opening every single file everywhere)?

I don't normally use online-only, needed to last week for a limited period of time. Now I'd like to blanket-just turn everything back to "all synching all the time."

Help a brother out?

Megan

Hi @RogerCourville, thanks for posting today!

There's no way for you to avoid checking your folders for online-only files if you want to change their settings.

The best way would be for you to access the folder, select all the files, and change them to local.

If you have any other questions, let me know!

Steve A.13

It seems ludicrous that there isn't a way to display all of the online-only files. I have almost 200,000 files in thousands of folders stored on Dropbox. Approximately 20 folders set to online-only. However, if I want to find out which of my thousands of folders are online, I have to look at the contents of each folder? That is ridiculously impractical.