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How to permanently / forever / for real ... turn OFF Smart Sync

Hello,

When Smart Sync was introduced, I tried it, disliked it, and had to search how to disable it (which was not intuitive). It was gone. Auto app update worked fine and did not introduced it back.

Now I just installed the release Apple Silicon version of Dropbox (v163.4.5456) and sure enough, it's back to the Online-only default behaviour for every newly created file. And again, there's no obvious option in Settings to turn it off, and to make the matter worse, posts describing how to do it do not work! https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Create-upload-and-share/How-to-disable-Smart-Sync-really-and-truly/td-p/533822

I really do not need to save space in my hard drive.

Quick View on macOS doesn't work on an Online-only file placeholder!

Please help me disable the function.

And please consider asking users to opt-in on this feature.....

Thank you!!!

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Rich

@Julian G.2 wrote:
Please help me disable the function.

There is no option to disable it. Also, with the latest updates to macOS and the Dropbox app, files added to your account from another device will default to online-only.

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes (bottom of the page)

Julian G.2

Thanks.

I wonder how not allowing to change the default behaviour could be a deliberate decision, as Quick Look is a basic functionality of macOS, it just doesn't work with a placeholder, so....

But: According to your link:

Files added to your Dropbox account from another device or that are shared by another user will default to online-only.
(which is my case), and given the second topic:
- Files added to folders that are available offline will maintain the available offline status.

as a workaround, I will select "Make available offline" on the root folder that holds the files form that computer. And see how it goes..

The first time it crashed my computer:

Screenshot 2022-12-26 at 21.56.01.jpg

Regards,

Julian G.2

Ok...

So much for the "workaround" of setting the desired behaviour in the root folder.

It seemed to work at first, but now I pay attention: an amount of seemingly random files, folders and subfolders are appearing have te dreaded cloud icon of "online only". So also the root folder because it contains "some" placeholder files.

But making the root folder "available offline" again, does not seem to do anything with the status of their contents. Also, nothing happens when acting on any single file.....

FOR THE MOTHER OF GOD: I DON'T WANT THIS.

PLEASE LET ME TURN OFF "ONLINE ONLY" FUNCTIONALITY.

I NEVER WANT ANY FILE TO BE ONLINE ONLY, EVER, EVER!

Please let me turn this off.

Julian G.2

Update:

Context menu > "Make available offline" does nothing... bug?

To make available offline, click on the cloud icon. But anyways, clicking on a root folder does nothing to the rules of future content inside created in a remote machine.

Hannah

Hey @Julian G.2, I hope you're well.

Please try again, but this time, open your Dropbox folder and select all your top level folders and switch those to "available offline", to see if that works.

If not, please send us a screenshot of the Dropbox application's sync status and a screenshot of your local Dropbox folder, showing the icons on your files after you switched them to "available offline".

You can hover over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar, to see the sync status.

Julian G.2

Hi Hannah,

You mean select folders on the root (I have 5) and righ-click > then choose the "Make available offline" option?

It does nothing.

Sync status shows everything up to date.

Screenshot 2023-01-26 at 10.25.15.jpg

Kind regards,

Jay

Hi @Julian G.2, could you attach a screenshot showing the main folders in your account as they appear in Finder, after you right click them to make them available offline, while hiding any personal info?

Julian G.2

Hi Jay, you mean this?

Screenshot 2023-01-26 at 14.55.45.jpg

Jay

Yes, it seems they're all local except for the Win folder, which contains some local and some online-only files.

Julian G.2

Indeed, but the other 4 are local because they are not receiving new files from another computer.

The setup is this: Dropbox folder is shared between a Macbook Pro and a Windows workstation. New files are created on windows and need to be managed from macOS.

The problem is this: macOS Quick Look (you know when you press Space bar?) does not work with Dropbox placeholder files. And the setup in the Dropbox agent now is that any new file created in Windows appears in macOS only as a placeholder file (aka DB "available online") per default, and it seems you cannot change this default behaviour.

Finder requires user action to make that file local. Clicking on the cloud icon.

But I cannot run behind Dropbox sync manually making every new file local.........

Is this not known to Dropbox development?

Megan

Hi @Julian G.2, what you described is normal behavior with the new Dropbox for MacOS.

You'd need to change content manually, since there's no default setting for it. I'll forward your feedback to the appropriate areas so we can continue to improve.

Julian G.2

Hi Meghan,

Can I downgrade?

Smart Sync breaks macOS Quick Look!
Fixing this is not improving Dropbox, but righting a wrong…. I hope it really goes high in the backlog.
We are working here and we rely on Dropbox for years and it’s not like we can tomorrow move to something else.
There are hundreds of files being generated throughout the day. I can’t go clicking on the cloud icon on every save.

Kind regards!

Megan

Hi @Julian G.2, I'm afraid, it is not possible to revert to the previous version of the app.

The updated Dropbox for macOS app has been developed to adhere to the requirements as set out by Apple therefore this update was introduced to ensure the best possible experience for our Mac users long into the future.

I’ll be happy to pass along your feedback to our Product team.

If you wish, you can disable the feature altogether by following the steps, in Hannah's reply here.

I hope this helps!