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Ignoring a directory does not work

Dear all,

I am trying to get dropbox to ignore a directory that we use to create ~200K small temporary files using the command given in this article:

https://help.dropbox.com/sync/ignored-files#:~:text=If%20you%20ignore%20a%20file,sync%20to%20your%20Dropbox%20account.

I am trying to run the command on our windows machine:

Edition Windows 11 Education
Version 22H2
Installed on ‎11/‎17/‎2022
OS build 22623.885
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22637.1000.0

but I get an error:

Set-Content -Path 'D:\Dropbox (Scripps Research)\Grotjahn Lab\Data\Krios_Data\JTL016A_3_TEM_230401\frames\matching\' -Stream com.dropbox.ignored -Value 1\
Set-Content : Could not open the alternate data stream 'com.dropbox.ignored' of the file 'D:\Dropbox (Scripps
Research)\Grotjahn Lab\Data\Krios_Data\JTL016A_3_TEM_230401\frames\matching\'.
At line:1 char:1
+ Set-Content -Path 'D:\Dropbox (Scripps Research)\Grotjahn Lab\Data\Kr ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Set-Content], FileNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.FileNotFoundException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SetContentCommand

Can anyone help me with this? Solving this issue can save us a large chunk of time and trouble since we won't have to pause and resume syncing anymore.

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Jay

Currently, it isn't possible to bulk ignore folders, they'd need to be manually ignored as and when they exist in your Dropbox folder.

All comments

Jay

Hi @hrahmani, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Did you copy the command exactly, as you entered a backslash at the end of the command after 1.

This will help me to assist further!

hrahmani

The backslash is a mistake in this message not in the command. Thank you for the quick response, after I posted it I started playing more with the PowerShell commands and this worked:

cd [the parent directory]

Set-Content ./subtomo:com.dropbox.ignored -value 1

Now I can see the value when I use

Get-Content .\subtomo:com.dropbox.ignored

and in the file explorer I see the gray minus sign on that directory.

Jay

Thanks for the info. Does this mean you were able to successfully ignore the folder you needed?

hrahmani

I believe so (I want to test it but I don't see a reason for it to go wrong.). Are there resources available for me to ignore all the directories with this name? Like ignore every directory matching "Data/*/subtomo/" even the ones that are created later?

This can even work if there is a way to create the subtomo/ directory for every new folder in Data/ and then ignore it.

Thanks for you help.

Jay

Currently, it isn't possible to bulk ignore folders, they'd need to be manually ignored as and when they exist in your Dropbox folder.

Dragorion

I had this error for iconized folders and could work around it.

My related reply* is buried under other replies, but it contains the answer for the case that your Set-Content command fails due to extra attributes that have to be removed before and added after the powershell command. You can use batch files for simplicity, like I did.

* https://www.dropboxforum.com/discussions/101001013/the-ignore-folder-feature-is-not-working-/384678/replies/720835