Files do not get automatically synced on Mac, I need to download them.

I think a resolution may be to right-click the parent folder (DropboxFolder > YourFolder) and select "Make Available Offline".

When I did this, I got the green tick on the folder, then the files started adding the green tick, and then files created and placed in there form another source downloaded automatically.

Test it and see if this works for you. It now works for me. Saves me a bit of concern too wit the visual prompt of the green tick.

EDIT - you can also do this to the Dropbox folder. So that might be the better solution!

All comments

Walter

Hey @MathewCross, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

The issue you outlined is described in this Help Center article and all I can suggest for the moment is finding those files and making them available offline manually as needed.

I hope this helps to some extent.

I'm not sure that the linked article does help. I have what seems like the same issue (on both Mac 12.6.2 and MacOS 13.1) and I don't recognised the situation in the list of reasons why files don't get downloaded.

In my case, the issue appears as follows:

1) I am creating a file in the Dropbox location from a 3rd party app.

2) It is being created in a Dropbox folder shared by another Dropbox user. I have not seen the issue when creating in one of my own dropbox folders.

3) If I manually upload the file to Dropbox (using the Web app) it will sync back and from then on, all is good for that file (I might get a second file appear with a "conflicted" file name, unless I remove the original file first).

4) The other Dropbox user's files are sync'g ok.

I also notice that the problematic file is not integrated at all to Dropbox when it is first created; i.e. none of the dropbox shortcuts appear in the file's context menu. This is resolved once the file is sync'g ok (step 3 above).

Thank you for the reply, this reinforces my conviction that if something works fine do not update anything. Unfortunately I use dropbox for with with multiple files and downloading each of them manually is very problematic as I also use Forklift as a file manager and it does not cooperate with the new update either, of course...

Hannah

Hey @marktb1961, can you clarify your issue a bit?

Are the files in question syncing to your Dropbox folder, just as online-only? Or are they not getting synced at all?

And is it happening to files that the other member of the folder is uploading? Or files that both of you upload?

Not sure if this was for me but anyway: the files show up in my folders but as online only, these files uploaded by other users sharing my folder. The point is, I am working with Forklift and it does not download them automatically when trying to open the files. The system hangs so I have to go to finder and download them, which is laborious. What I need Dropbox to do it to work as it used to before the update, so download the files that come into my folders automatically to my disk...

@Hannah :-

Are the files in question syncing to your Dropbox folder, just as online-only? Or are they not getting synced at all?

The files that I create are not sync'g at all. Also, no Dropbox context menu items such as "Make available offline"

And is it happening to files that the other member of the folder is uploading? Or files that both of you upload?

Only to me. There are only two of us and afaik the other member is not using Mac.

So far, I can only replicate the issue in a specific app with the following steps:

1) I open a file in the shared dropbox folder that my collaborator has sync'd across (the file is a log file that the app "replays").

2) I step through the log file (until the end or not, does not matter - I suspect that the app still have the sender's file "open" once I exit this step).

3) I create my own log file in the shared folder and close it.

4) When I tried creating a second file in the same session, it did sync and had the expected dropbox menu items.

Once my file is created in step (3), simply moving the file out of Dropbox and back again does not fix the issue. However, if I create my file outside of Dropbox and then move it in, Dropbox does "adopt" the file and it does sync.

Jay

Hi @MathewCross, are you on the latest version of your OS? It sounds like you're on the new version of the Mac OS Dropbox app, on which files are defaulted to online-only.

@marktb1961, is this for all files on the site, or just certain files aren't syncing down? Do they have a compatible file name to allow for the download?

yes, I am on both new Dropbox and MAC OS, does it mean I am not able to use dropbox as I used to?

Jay

That's correct, since the new version of the Dropbox desktop application for Mac OS, files added online or from other devices will default to online-only on your machine.

You can still mark entire folders as available offline, and files within there should download as local copies.

'fantastic' so the whole basic idea of dropbox as a convenient tool synchronizing files automatically has gone to hell, it would be great if someone had thought that such a crucial change might make work of somem people very difficult and laborious as some 3 party applications do not download the files like finder after double clicking so now working in that application I have to keep finder open and download manually folders where I want to work... 'thank you very much'....

@Jay

is this for all files on the site, or just certain files aren't syncing down? Do they have a compatible file name to allow for the download?

It is only for files that I create from a specific third party app, in the circumstances described above in my reply to @Hannah. Files have compatible file names, nothing fancy.

I noticed that Dropbox updated on my machines to version 165.4.4300 ... since then, the test I described does not replicate the issue. Perhaps something else has changed but hopefully Dropbox have fixed the issue.

In actual use, the problem has recurred. Possibly the exact way I use the app to open a file is significant.

Also, if I duplicate the output file (the one that Dropbox has failed to recognise), the new copy IS taken up correctly and sync'd.

Jay

Hi @marktb1961, thank you for your feedback relating to the new syncing behavior on Dropbox for macOS.

As with any operating system (OS), macOS is updated regularly and with that, we must keep the Dropbox desktop app aligned with any requirements set out by an OS. Keeping aligned to those requirements ensures that the Dropbox desktop app will provide the best possible experience for all our customers in to the future.

We’ll be sure to pass your feedback along to our Product and Design teams.

@Jay - you might have mixed me up with the @MathewCross, the original poster. Possibly there are two different issues. There is at least one DropBox bug, I don't think that is a design issue.

Hannah

Hey @marktb1961, thanks for all the info you provided.

Is the 3rd party app that you're using to create these files somehow connected to your Dropbox account?

Meaning, does it appear in your connected apps page?

And are you exporting them to Dropbox from this app, or are they created in the Dropbox folder directly?

Thanks @Hannah. Answers to your further questions:

No, the 3rd party app is not connected to my Dropbox account.

I am creating files directly in the Dropbox folder (i.e. in the folder that my collaborator shared with me and that appears as a sub-folder in the "DropBox" location on my Mac).

The app is a Java-based board gaming engine called Vassal.

Hannah

Thanks for that Mark!

Can you try these steps, to see if they help at all? If not, then try these steps.

Thanks!

So, to conclude, is Dropbox planning to improve this and allow automatic downloads as it used to be or I am doomed to manual handling?

INVOKE

My whole team is also dealing with this issue. As an example, if you upload a file from the Dropbox app it will NOT auto download to your Mac like it used to. This is extremely frustrating especially for larger files that I want to have ready to work with on the Mac. This is especially frustrating with any kind of shared folders where many people are working on things and needing to collaborate. Does anyone know if this is also the case with Box? We will make the switch ASAP. BTW we have not found any solve (full disk permission, repairing, etc. does not solve this issue) ☹️

I think a resolution may be to right-click the parent folder (DropboxFolder > YourFolder) and select "Make Available Offline".

When I did this, I got the green tick on the folder, then the files started adding the green tick, and then files created and placed in there form another source downloaded automatically.

Test it and see if this works for you. It now works for me. Saves me a bit of concern too wit the visual prompt of the green tick.

EDIT - you can also do this to the Dropbox folder. So that might be the better solution!

Ben you are cashing in, it works for me, thank you!

All good! Glad it worked for you too.

INVOKE

Yes, however the issue with that resolution is, if you have a very large DB (mine is well over 5TB) with many folders and individual files marked as "online only" or "selective sync" then there is absolutely no way to accomplish this because I would need an internal SSD large enough to accommodate the initial sync/dowload... and then of course the extremely painstaking process of going through literally hundreds of folders and thousands of files to re-mark as online or offline, etc.