Child Item

Folder switched to online only without my permission

My top level Dropbox folder has switched to online-only without my permission. I took care not to enable this, as I want Dropbox as a backup, not as an extra storage. I want immediate access to my files at all times and not wait for a download.

I discovered this as I was editing 800+ photos of a wedding (!!!!! imagine).

The finder became slow, I could not longer open RAW files in photoshop from the finder. I could not import photos in the photos app. All was very, very slow all of a sudden. Now I can't continue my work, because I will have to wait for days to sync everything back again.

These files are my most precious files (not only those of the wedding, but those that in general mean the most to me).

I have a paid subscription to Dropbox that I will cancel as soon as I have my files back and copied to a safe location and a backup location.

I will remove dropbox from all my devices after this.

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Comments

bartmcleod

Oh yes, and I can't even login to Dropbox. They want me to use an external key that I don't have and never set up! I understand the merits of 2FA, don't get me wrong, but it is not registered in any of my 2FA apps, nor does it attempt to use the fingerprint of my mac. Only because I'm logged into the app on my machine and on my phone I can still access it, but other than that, I would be locked out by now ( I do have recovery codes). All-in-all this is so horrible an experience and big hindrance to doing the work I have to do that I give up on Dropbox, although I have somewhat liked it for many years. Sad, sad story.

bartmcleod

Funny how the view counter goes up when I keep refreshing the page. Another amateuristic feature.

Walter

Hey @bartmcleod - sorry to hear about this.

Can you please let us know your device's exact OS version and the version and status of the Dropbox app as shown in your menu bar?

Also, do you see any weird actions or file activity in your events page?

Let us know more and we'll take it from there.

bartmcleod

Hi Walter,

I am on Sequoia 15.0 since a few days.

Status of the Dropbox Icon is Syncing (flash symbol).

I see only my own activity in the events log, nothing special.

Even some of my edited files are gone now. A lot of work went into those.

I do have a back-up of the raw files outside DropBox.

I'm so angry I think I'm going insane.

Cheers, Bart

bartmcleod

I can't even copy the folder with the edited files to a different location on my hard drive to back them up, the folder shows a DropBox clock-wait icon when I try to paste it on the new location. Dropbox has taken complete control.

bartmcleod

Oh, and fyi I marked my root DropBox folder as make available offline, as I want control over my files, so it has to sync everything now.

bartmcleod

I have been able to copy the edited photoshop files that were not yet "online only" to a local folder. Now I'm going over those that are "online only" (with a green check mark and a happy cloud symbol that's laughing in my face with its optimistic not working down pointing arrow - yes it got me down) to display them in the browser. I download them from there one by one and then copy them to the "Saved from dropbox folder"

Hannah

Sorry to hear about your experience, @bartmcleod.

When did you first notice this behavior? Was it after updating your computer to macOS Sequoia?

Also, are you currently using the Dropbox app for macOS on File Provider?

bartmcleod

Hi Hannah, yes it was after the upgrade, but that could still be coincedental. I shot the wedding a day after the upgrade to Sequoia and started editing a day after that. So hard to say if the upgrade caused it, but definitely possible. I am not sure if I am using "Dropbox app for macOs on File Provider". I am using the Dropbox app for Mac, but I am not sure about the "on File Provider" part. How can I see if I do?

Hannah

Thanks for the update here, Bart.

You can see if you're using the File Provider version of the Dropbox app, by checking the "sync" tab in your Dropbox preferences.

Is your Dropbox folder located in ~/Library/CloudStorage?

bartmcleod

Yes it is in ~/Library/Cloudstorage

And it is was also set to Online only as a standard for new files. I did not know this setting existed, but it must have caused the issue.

Hannah

Thanks for checking that, Bart.

Have you managed to resolve this, then?

Let us know if there's anything else we can help with!

bartmcleod

No, it is not resolved, only the setting for new files changed. But my whole DropBox folder is still having issues syncing.

bartmcleod

After a restart, at least opening the online files directly from the finder is possible again. Not sure for how long. The file list is still in a mixed state of offline and not completely offline items unfortunately. I wonder if giving it a few days to sync will solve it, but I seriously doubt that.

Walter

Thanks for the updates on this @bartmcleod

I just wanted to mention that Dropbox files or folders not previously set to be available offline may be automatically set to online-only when your hard drive is low on disk space. This means that you'll need to manually make your files available offline again in this case.

For more information, you can have a look here.

Let us know if you notice this happen in the future again!