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Dropbox modified filter for folders doesn't show modified date.

When I view my files and folders in my Dropbox account online, the "Modified" sort column will not show dates for any folders in my account. The column only shows two hypens for each folder instead of a date. The "Modified" column will show dates for FILES, but not for any folders. (I actually have 2 Dropbox accounts, and this problem happens in both of them).

If I right click on a folder and choose "Folder Info," the correct Modified Date is shown in that popup for that folder, but for some reason it's not populating in the Modified column in the list of folders.

I also suspect this is causing an issue on the file sync with the Windows desktop app, because my folders that I sync to my PC through the desktop app are not pulling the "Modified" date from Dropbox and are populating with today's date instead. The FILES I sync, however, do come through with the correct date applied.

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Megan

Hey @jbenton42!

The modification date shown on the web should match the one shown on the desktop on a file level.

So, in this case, you can review the date modified of the content instead of the folder itself.

All in all, if the app is "Up to date" and what you see locally matches what you see online, as far as your files are concerned, you should be good.

In any case, if you ever run into a syncing issue, we'll be here and ready to help!

All comments

Megan

Hi @jbenton42, thanks for posting here today!

In regards to folders online not showing info in the modified column, I tested it and the same thing happens on my end so this seems to be expected.

As for the date modified, that depends on how you sync the file to your account, and how the file is edited or saved. Generally, if a file is in the Dropbox folder, and is then edited and saved, the modification date of the file would change to the current time.

Uploading any file from your machine to the Dropbox site would make the modification date to be that moment, even if the file was created on a different date.

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

jbenton42

Yeah, I'm specifically talking about folders. Files sync from Dropbox Web to the Windows Dropbox app with their modified-dates intact, but folders do not. So all folders that are synced from Dropbox to the PC have the a modified date of the date they were synced, even if they were modified weeks/months ago on Dropbox web.

Nancy

@jbenton42, this sounds like it may be expected, but let’s check a few more things together.

Can you clarify the syncing status of your Dropbox app? If you add files to your folders via the website or the desktop app, do you see them on the other platform?

jbenton42

Yes everything syncs fine

Megan

Hey @jbenton42!

jbenton42

It's just that I have a lot of projects from different dates, filed into different project folders. Often I need to sort those folders by date to see which one was most recent, but since Dropbox doesn't maintain the folder dates upon sync, it makes this impossible