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Dropbox removed "Save hard drive space automatically"

I thought "smart sync" was so that Dropbox automatically makes files I haven't used in a while online only.

I don't see a smart sync option on my M1 Mac (macOS Monterey 12.1), but I have "Make online-only" and "Make available offline" when I right click on a file. But I don't seem to have a smart sync option enabled because old files I haven't touched in months are filling up my drive. Aren't they supposed to be changed to "online only" by themselves? They did this before, but now I have to do it manually and it takes forever.

Where is the "save hard drive space automatically" option? I can't find it anymore.

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Megan

Hey all!

Just wanted to jump in here, and let you know that the option should be back, and all should work like they used to.

Thanks a bunch! 😎

All comments

Rich

@Pookeyblow wrote:
I don't see a smart sync option on my M1 Mac (macOS Monterey 12.1), but I have "Make online-only" and "Make available offline" when I right click on a file.

Smart Sync no longer exists in name, but the functionality is still there, and as you've found, those the are Make Online-only and Make available offline options.

But I don't seem to have a smart sync option enabled because old files I haven't touched in months are filling up my drive. Aren't they supposed to be changed to "online only" by themselves?

I'm not a Mac user so the details may be a bit fuzzy, but I believe that happens based on the space available on your drive, and not over a period of time. Files can automatically switch to Online-only when disk space is low.

Pookeyblow

Thanks. In the past, they became online-only when they had been inactive for some time. I really liked this. Not for all files, but for most files. I know they changed it so that if you click "Make available offline", the file/folder won't be affected by the automatic online-only option.

My issue is that it doesn't work like it used to. I used to have this option, but I can't find it anymore. Is the functionality removed or is it a bug?

Pookeyblow

Talked with support. They have completely removed the feature. Totally crazy decision to do for such a beneficial feature.

I have almost all my files in Dropbox. I don't remember which files I haven't opened in a while or not.

I now have to manually find all my inactive files and click "Make online-only" on each individual file / folder.

Pookeyblow

Talked with support again and they said the option is removed, but the feature is still there. It's just always on.

My issue is that files I haven't touched in a year didn't go online-only automatically. It could be a third party app messing it up. I don't know.

Visual Rhythm

is there a way to turn it off?

I must be wierd and absolutely HATE this feature as it keeps removing things that I want on my computer at all times.

Megan

Hi @Visual Rhythm, how are you today?

Do you use a Mac or a Windows device? Also, what do you see when you open your app's preferences, under the Sync tab? Is the option enabled there?

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!

Visual Rhythm

16" MacBook Pro M1 Max

Screenshot 2023-02-13 at 7.34.39 AM.png

Hannah

Hey @Visual Rhythm, thanks for the screenshot here.

If you keep running low on hard drive space, this feature will take effect, as there's no way to disable it at this time.

I will, however, pass your feedback along to our devs team, so thanks for telling us your thoughts about it.

Visual Rhythm

1. I can handle my own storage. I don’t need Dropbox to do it for me.
2. I have 1.2TB available. It’s still doing it.

Dliver

+1 for this, i also absolutely hate it and would like to be able to disable this feature!

fedeboraxx

Hi there,

It seems the new Dropbox makes a lot of files online-only without me asking it to do so. It is very annoying AND unhelpful as sometimes I work without WIFI. How do I turn this off? It was much better before, where I told it which files where online, and which needed offline access.

Thanks

Rich

@fedeboraxx wrote:
It seems the new Dropbox makes a lot of files online-only without me asking it to do so. How do I turn this off?

There is no option to disable this feature. As long as you have enough drive space and you mark your files as Available Offline, Dropbox shouldn't make them Online-only. It will, however, continue to do this if you're low on local drive space.

fedeboraxx

Thanks Rich. I'm not low on space (and if I were, I'd like to admin this myself). Now, whenever I create a new file, Dropbox uploads it and makes it online-only. Which wreaks havoc with programs like Premiere, which are searching for a ton of linked files per project. Why would Dropbox do this? Why do software companies add features no-one asked for?

Walter

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

Could you please clarify your device's OS version and the status and version of the desktop app as shown in your menu bar?

Also, did you try making the files you'd like to access at all times available offline before trying to open them through your 3rd party apps?

fedeboraxx

Thanks Walter. I have the latest Mac, and the latest Dropbox, everything updated to whatever is the newest version.

And do you suggest going through ALL My FILES and right clicking to make the offline? This seems like a huge waste of time

Jay

Hi @fedeboraxx, have you tried marking the entire Dropbox folder as available offline, or bulk selecting all the files in the root folder to mark them the same way?

yoyoyoyoyo27

not weird at all. this is totally an awful thing for dropbox, and is the continuing dumbing-down of computing. this will force me off dropbox entirely, sadly

yoyoyoyoyo27

I have 300gb free on my computer and it is still doing this. I absolutely don't want dropbox making these decisions for me. If this can't be fixed soon, I will be off Dropbox.

yoyoyoyoyo27

it's totally awful. it has made it unusable for Premiere, etc, these days. the beginning of the end for Dropbox I fear

Dliver

Yes i totally agree, i'm getting more frustrated by the week. Will change over to another service if this isn't adressed

jaohar

Any updates on when this option will return?

fedeboraxx

This keeps happening to me. Dropbox randomly decides to make files online-only, and then I find myself without internet and unable to access my own files. This needs to be fixed, ASAP. It also totally messes up long renders (like a video export from Premiere) and created "conflicted copies'.

Why mess with an already perfect product? Who asked for this? When will it be fixed?

mattbrunt

The short answer to your question: Despite Dropbox's assurances, the feature and functionality do not exist.

Additionally, it's very likely that Dropbox will not be implementing a solution for the MacOS—after all, this has been an experienced issue for MacOS users for about 18 months. Dropbox's response to concerned subscribers is to assure the community that the functionality remains intact. This is categorically not true.

At issue is a late 2021 addition to the MacOS called "File Provider." In a nutshell (and rather ironically, considering this topic), the File Provider API was literally designed to facilitate real-time syncing of files between local and cloud storage. Thus far, Dropbox has not implemented the changes necessary to make smart-sync work on the new MacOS. Not to mention the fact that Apple isn't slowing their OS development to wait on Dropbox: In a couple of months, we'll be updating to MacOS 14; Dropbox still hasn't caught up to 12.1.

Think about this, though: Other cloud-based storage solutions are already there. Box Drive integrates seamlessly with the MacOS, for example. Our team saw this as a golden opportunity to go all-in with Google's cloud services. We already leverage Google Workspace functionality, so we decided to run a month of testing on Google Drive, and we've been extremely happy with the result. It syncs flawlessly—and across multiple machines. [One of our issues has been that DB's requirement to make working files offline necessarily changes the pathing for those files. This meant that anytime a project changed hands, it required yet another round of painstakingly hunting down links—at times 50+—in InDesign and Illustrator files.] We've been patiently awaiting Dropbox's update for 18 months. We'll be making the migration to Google Drive this month.

I know it can be a massive pain (we've got about about 4 TB to migrate), and it's easy to persist with the way things are, hoping that the good news of a Dropbox update is around the corner. My question is: For how long have you been patient with the lost functionality? How long are you willing to wait, knowing there are viable solutions already out there? Dropbox's official responses no longer indicate any active development in this direction. No more forum messages assuring the community that they're working on a solution. You'll see that their responses indicate an apparent satisfaction with the current MacOS functionality. Don't waste your business' time. Make the switch, and get back to work!

themoves

Completely agree, this is costing me to pointlessly waste time managing files and googling for solutions to a problem that shouldn't even exist. I can manage my own storage, and the idea of "low disk space" is completely arbitrary as I have no idea how it decides what "low" even means. This "feature" needs to be OPTIONAL.

Megan

Hey all!

Just wanted to jump in here, and let you know that the option should be back, and all should work like they used to.

Thanks a bunch! 😎