Dropbox duplicates a file before uploading to cloud folder

Question

Hi there. I'm on Mac OS 11.2.3.

I'm trying to upload a batch of 50+GB files using the Dropbox app (they won't transfer using a browser because of the size limit). The files are in an external HD. When I drag the 50+GB file to the Dropbox "folder" on Finder, it creates a copy of the file on my "Macintosh HD\Users" folder, before uploading it to the cloud folder, and then "deletes" the copy (the shortcut stays there, but it goes from showing "69GB on disk" to "Zero bytes on disk".

This would be all ok, but I'm trying to move a 150GB file from the external HD to the cloud, and my local HD has less than 100GB free. No space for this useless temporary copy.

How do I stop Dropbox from making this useless copy, and instead just copy from the external HD directly to the cloud?

Rich · Accepted Answer

@Mirvish wrote:How do I stop Dropbox from making this useless copy, and instead just copy from the external HD directly to the cloud?

You can't. That's not how Dropbox works. The Dropbox application can't upload directly to your account in the cloud from an external drive. The only way to do that is through the Dropbox website which, as you mentioned, as a file size limit. The Dropbox application is a file synchronization utility, and any files it syncs need to first be stored in the local Dropbox folder. Once a file is uploaded it can be marked as Online-only using Smart Sync and removed from the local drive, but the file needs to start out as Local in the Dropbox folder.