Is it possible to have the directory of files visible locally, without downloading them?

Hey @Neurad1, do you mean that you selected your files to be online-only, while setting up the Dropbox app, and they’re still available offline?

What if you right-click on your local Dropbox folder, and opt for the “Make online-only" option? Does that seem to work?

zedadams

I'm having this same problem. The problem is that I can't see the folders at all--there's nothing in the Dropbox folder on my laptop. How do I get the folders to come up, but without the files in them. Normally it does this automatically. But this time it didn't.

Hannah

Hey @zedadams, thanks for the nudge here.

Is it possible that you've chosen not to sync your files through the selective sync feature?

You can check that by following these steps here.

Let me know how it goes!

JohanBang

I have the same issue. When installing dropbox on my new computer you only get two choices. Either online only and nothing is visible in you dropbox folder in windows explorer, or selective sync. This makes everything you check visible in windows explorer BUT you HAVE to download it for some reason. 5tb and my harddrive is only 2tb so I am screwed. I just want the folder structure to be visible and then I want to choose which files to be synced manually when I need them. That is how it always worked on my previous computers. There MUST be a way??

HI @JohanBang, you you install the Dropbox desktop application, the online-only option is the one you want, since the file structure, folders and names would appear in the Dropbox folder, but no files would be downloaded, thus taking up no room.

After the structure is completed, you can mark folders and files as available offline to download them to your machine.

Selective sync would prevent entire folders from downloading to your machine and you wouldn't see them visible in the Dropbox folder.

JohanBang

Hi Jay and thank you for your quick response. I did reinstall and try that option but not a single folder was visible in the dropbox folder then.

Could you check the selective sync settings in the desktop app just in case to see if the folders were deselected?

Hey @JohanBang, did you double check your selective sync settings, like Jay previously suggested? If you did, were you able to find your folders this way?

I'm having the same problem and it's frustrating.

New computer, 5TB dropbox account. No ability to display folder structure within Windows explorer without syncing the whole dropbox account.

There's a problem with the settings. In my screenshot you can see that I've selected to make all folders visible.

And I've chosen to store the files online-only.

But those settings don't work properly. Choosing to "see" the folders causes the app to download the folders and their contents.

Please help.

Hi @JadeB, in addition to those settings you have enabled, could you try marking the Dropbox folder itself as online-only by right clicking it and choosing that option, to see if this helps?

Thanks, Jay. But I don't have that option within Windows explorer.

In this screenshot I've selected all the folders except for the one that I want a local copy. Right-clicking produces only "transfer a copy" as an option.

Are you certain that you're viewing the files in the Dropbox folder?

Is the Dropbox desktop application currently running and syncing, in order for you to see all the context menu items?

Thanks Jay. I had paused syncing because I didn't want my HD to fill up. I resumed syncing and then I had the right-click context menu to "make online only."

So, I've selected that. But I'll just have to wait and see if it continues to create the local folder structure or if it will leave whatever folders hadn't yet synced invisible on my local computer.

It should populate the Dropbox folder with placeholder files of your entire folder structure, as you didn't hide any folders using the selective sync feature.

This can take a little time depending on the number of files and folders on your account.

Let me know how it goes!

Hey @JadeB! I wanted to check if you have any more updates on this.

Let us know.

Thanks for following up, Nancy. Everything seems to be working the way I wanted now.

Glad to hear it!

Don’t hesitate to reach back to us here, if you need something else.

SKSKSKSKSKSK

Hi Jay.

I appreciate you helping, & for clarity, I think what we're asking for is below (excuse the caps, but I want to be clear).

I've been in many many forums about this and never received clear and concise STEP BY STEP process for how to do the following:

1. Install the Dropbox Desktop interface on a MAC.

2. Have the entire file structure VISIBLE but NOT DOWNLOADED - WITHOUT having to download EVERYTHING in that file structure and THEN select it for online only.

3. THEN be able to download files as desired.

This was possible years ago. It is not now, and hasn't been for some time. My last two installs on new computers have gone poorly for this reason. Going by all online suggestions, I have to compromise my computer's ability to function for days as I selectively download files one 250 GB grouping at a time (I have about 4TB of files on Dropbox), wait for them to successfully download, select them for online only, wait for them to be removed from my computer's storage, then do that again for literal DAYS.

Please, if it IS possible to do what I listed above, share the steps for this. If not, please admit it and plead with the people in the development department to create a method to make your users rejoice and use your product, and not suffer and succumb to the easy route - just cancel & use Apple's Cloud.

THANK YOU! Honestly, thank you, I know you're not the one who made the mess!!

Hi @SKSKSKSKSKSK, during the installation steps, there should be an option to have files automatically be online-only when the Dropbox folder is set up, instead of available offline.

Do you see that option when installing the app on a new device, or when using the advanced reinstallation steps?

SKSKSKSKSKSK

Hi Jay,

I have checked them. That's a bit of the problem.

If I don't want a folder to download to my computer, it doesn't show up in the file structure. I have to download it to have it show up. Once it downloads, I can THEN set it to online only, which will clear it out of my hard drive, but again, that's a process that takes DAYS to manage due to the volume of data and the size of my hard drive.

What I'm asking for is to have ALL the folders be visible on my desktop but not be downloaded - the same way they are when things are "Online Only" - WITHOUT having to download them and then set them to online only.

When I install the desktop app, I want to be able to SEE EVERYTHING immediately that's on the cloud without having to download ANYTHING. And THEN pick the stuff I want to download.

Again, if that CANNOT happen, please just say so. Please say "nope, you'd have to download everything and THEN set it to online only." Then I'd know. But there's a lot of half-completed help forums that end with "wait, didn't you try online only" & that's NOT the problem.

It's that the workflow on the user end is unnecessarily cumbersome. It asks way too much of you users, frankly, when you should just have a solve to allow the full file structure to be visible the moment you download the Dropbox desktop app.