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The Dropbox app on my Mac is stuck syncing some files. What can I do?

I can't get one of my devices (MacBookPro) to sync or upload any files. It appears to be hung on syncing some files. I've tried...:

switching files from "available offline" to "online-only" and back-- often it refuses to change, and worse, it loses its sync icon-- neither cloud or green check is visible.
changing my network back and forth, even though no other apps on any other devices are having network issues
stopping the problem file ("Studio Cellos.caf") from syncing--- can't right-click to tell it to stop "Syncing next," as that option's greyed out, and has been for days, as seen in screenshot.
Since I can't know for sure its location (a .caf is hidden within a .logic package, and it could be one of many .logic files I have on my dropbox), I try deleting the folder in dropbox I suspected contains that file; but all that did was increase the amount of files it's syncing from 20 to 2307 and the size to 4.6 GB.
checking if it's an update issue, but my dropbox app auto-updates, and is at 224.4.4811
looking into clearing the cache, but since I'm using Mac File Provider, the folder named .dropbox.cache doesn’t appear so I can't.
repairing the hard links. This increased the amount of files to over 8000. A day later, nothing's changed, it's still at 4.6 GB, though, so it's still stuck.

It's seriously hampering my workflow not to have this functioning. Thank you for any assistance.

-Peter

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Walter

Hey @petermooreworld - just before we take this to email, can you please update to the latest version of the app from this page and let me know if the issue persists?

All comments

Mark

Is the program thats using Studio Cellos open?

Dropbox doesn't sync files while they are open.

Also....

petermooreworld wrote:
repairing the hard links. This increased the amount of files to over 8000. A day later, nothing's changed, it's still at 4.6 GB, though, so it's still stuck.

Not sure what you meant on this. Do you mean you have symlinks etc. inside of Dropbox? If so they arent supported which could be the issue - Dropbox doesn't sync what isn't inside its own directory.

petermooreworld

Thanks, Mark.
No, the program using Studio Cellos is not open.
"Repairing the hardlinks" is a suggestion I found in the db community, sort of like fixing permissions: (Select 'Preferences'/ 'Account' Hold down the 'Option/Alt' key Click on the 'Fix Hardlinks' button). It didn't work, I just listed it to suggest other things I tried. I don't think it's related to symlinks.

Mark

petermooreworld wrote:
No, the program using Studio Cellos is not open.

Bother!! I was, genuinely, banking on that one working.

Ok, another suggestion - do you know where the file is (or what 'file' it is in as part of a Package)?

I had a similar issue once and the database just seemed messed up. I fixed it by dragging that file out of Dropbox, waiting for it all to 'kick in and sync' and then replacing it. Doing that fixed it all - did take a few hours of syncing as it was backed up with up/downloads however but worked perfectly after.

petermooreworld

I don't know where that file Studio Cello.caf is. As I mentioned "I can't know for sure its location as a .caf is hidden within a .logic package, and it could be one of many .logic files I have on my dropbox. And, I tried deleting one of these .logic folders in dropbox I suspected contains that file; but all that did was increase the amount of files it's syncing from 20 to 2307 and the size to 4.6 GB." So I'm not inclined to remove the other dozen or so files (which are really packages of files) that may contain that problematic one. Or rather, *I would*, if dropbox wouldn't then just add all their subfiles to its mountain of files to sync, which it seems to want to do.
I guess I was hoping someone had a way to just tell dropbox to stop trying to sync that one file. But there isn't, is there?

Hannah

Hey @petermooreworld, sorry to see that you're having such an issue.

Is the app still stuck syncing this specific file?

Has the number of files syncing changed at all?

petermooreworld

Hi Hannah. Yup. it's still stuck at 'Syncing 8,528 files 4.6GB" no change.

Megan

Hi @petermooreworld, let me also jump in here!

Could you try to restart the app using the steps that my colleague, @Nancy provided here?

One more thing I'd like to add to these steps is that if you see the Dropbox.app file file in both locations, delete the file in the second location(~/Library/Application Support/Dropbox).

If you see the file in the second location but not in the first, move the file to the first location(/Applications).

Provided that the issue isn’t resolved from there, try these steps:

- Open the Terminal application on your computer.
- Type fileproviderctl domain list.
- Press return on your keyboard.
- Please provide us with a screenshot of the output.
- Navigate to your user profile folder ~/Users/[YourUsername].
- Press command-shift-. (period). This will show your hidden files.
- Locate and delete the .dropbox folder in ~/Users/[YourUsername].

petermooreworld

Thank you both for your suggestions.

I restarted the app per Nancy's steps. But db still showed the same info once it restarted (although as of this morning it's grown to 8,569 files).
There was no dropbox app in that second location(~/Library/Application Support/Dropbox).
I tried the steps you outlined above. Nothing changed, though, not sure if it was supposed to.
Here is the screenshot of my terminal (probably only need the bottom half or so):

I should note that if I do right-click on a file on my MacBookPro's Finder and ask it to Sync Next it will jump that file to the head of the cue and sync it. (Altho I have only really tested this on smaller files).
Thanks again, -- Peter

Hannah

Thanks for the detailed update, Peter, we really appreciate it.

There's one more thing I'd like you to check; can you follow these steps to see if the Dropbox app has full disk access on the computer?

petermooreworld

Gave Dropbox Full Disk Access (it already was toggled on in Accessibility, but I cycled it off-and-on anyway). Nothing changed, though.

Hannah

Thanks for checking anyway, Peter.

In that case, can we email you, to see what we can find internally?

petermooreworld

Yes, please, the email is me@ (my dropbox user name) .com

Walter

Hey @petermooreworld - just before we take this to email, can you please update to the latest version of the app from this page and let me know if the issue persists?

petermooreworld

Walter, okay, that appears to have cleared it up! Now it says "Your files are up to date" and no thousands of files in queue!
Not sure if it was the update itself or just db reinstalling that did it. All my devices were on the same version, and since DB says it auto-updates, I didn't see how a version update would be helpful. But basically the update wipes the DB from your device and re-installs. For anyone else doing this, if you already selectively sync folders so your computer isn't cluttered with old or decrepit folders, you might want to take screenshots of your folders, as this setting gets wiped and you'll have to spend some time hand-selecting which of the hundreds of folders you need your desktop to sync with. (I really wish DB developers would devise a script that could record to which folders your device syncs, to avoid this re-selecting process!)
But, hey, thanks Walter and everyone!

Walter

I'm happy to hear you're back up and running and thanks for the update too @petermooreworld

Let us know if anything else comes up in the future!

jhon738

I was also faces this issue, but reading this full discussion resolve all my issue. Thanks Walter.

Theresa

Hi @petermooreworld welcome back to the Dropbox Community - great to see your files have all successfully synced to your Dropbox account 🤗.

By the way, I'm Theresa and I am one of the Community managers here at Dropbox HQ 👩‍💻. I see from your thread posts that you are using Dropbox for music. I love hearing how our members use Dropbox to store and file music. If you're open to sharing, It would be great to hear your Dropbox story 🤓.

We also have a Musicians Group here on the Community if you would like to join. We share lots of tips and tricks there on how to make the most out of your Dropbox account 💪.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

T 😸 (Dropbox Community Manager)

petermooreworld

Sure, T_theresa_A, let me know what sort of feedback/user stories you're looking for.