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"Pause Sync" does not automatically restart on my Windows device.

After the new app update, when I "Pause Sync" for 30 minutes or 1 Hour, it does not restart syncing after the selected time.

It does say something like "File syncing and backups paused until 1:11 PM" but it does not start syncing again at that time and stays paused until I manually choose Resume Sync.

Device
Dell Desktop
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)
Windows 11

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Neal

Hi @A M.13,

This was a known issue that our team was working on.

They have since fixed the issue.

Let me know if anything else pops up!

All comments

Dell_Dropbox

welcome to the community @rubendn

You said "new app update", are you running the stable or beta release? Can you please check the version history and let us know?

Megan

Hey @rubendn, let's jump right into this!

I'll try to help as much as possible.

To add to what @Dell_Dropbox said, would you mind clarifying which app version you currently have installed, along with the app's syncing status? You can find both by hovering your mouse over the little Dropbox icon in your taskbar next to your WiFi.

Keep us posted, and we'll take it from there!

rubendn

I thought I had put it in the original message but looks like it was cutoff.

I'm on version: 238.3.5842

The syncing status shows Up To Date.

There is a piece of software that I use that before opening I pause for 30 minutes because there have been some issues in the past where it tries to sync the file while it is open so for years I just pause for 30 minutes and after 30 minutes it un-pauses on it's own. Within the last week, when I do this, it does not un-pause on it's own like it has in the past even though the time it says that it will un-pause automatically has passed.

Megan

Hey @rubendn, thanks for the info!

Based on the app version that you're using (238.3.5842) it seems you're using the beta version installed instead of the stable one. That could be the culprit there.

Can you try to uninstall Dropbox from your computer using these steps?

Once you do this, please access your account settings online and then toggle the Early Access setting to Off. After that reinstall the stable version using this link.

I'll be waiting for your update once you try this, to let me know if the behavior remains the same. Thanks!

rubendn

Thanks Megan.

It's not a big deal. I can un-pause sync manually and hopefully at some point in the future it works again.

I'd rather not go through with the whole uninstall and reinstall process.

Thanks for your help!

Is there a way to report an issue with a beta version?

Megan

Hey @rubendn!

That's why I'm here.

I'll forward your feedback to the appropriate areas so we can continue to improve.
If you need something else, please let me know and I will be more than happy to help every step of the way.

Michael R.100

This bug has migrated to the stable version (or was always there).

I am using v238.4.6075 and I already have "Early Access" turned off in my account (I am very confidant it was never turned on).

If I pause for any amount of time, the application stays paused even after the time has passed and has to be manually restarted. This has been an issue for at least a few weeks.

rubendn

I am on v239.3.8196 and the issue is still there.

I just manually turn the sync back on when I notice. It must be something unique in our configuration because I would think it would be more widely reported if it occurred on all installs.

Here is a screenshot showing the issue. Sync was supposed to automatically restart at 10:24 AM and it is now 10:32 AM and it didn't restart.

Michael R.100

Perhaps.

However, it doesn't make it any less of a bug as this feature has worked without error for 15+ years until the past month or so.

Jay

Hi @rubendn, @Michael R.100, thanks for the details. At this point it might be better for the support team to look into this in more detail.
You can contact them directly via this link, and they'll be able to investigate further.

Homestar9

@rubendn, did you ever get any help from Support to fix the issue? I'm also suffering from the bug. I'm on version 239.4.8301 and also see that the pause feature doesn't respect the resume time. I have a theory that it might have something to do with timezones and Dropbox not respecting the current device's timezone.

rubendn

It is still happening. When I opened a ticket, their only suggestion was to uninstall and go back to a "stable" version. I didn't want to go through that hassle so I'm just restarting manually. It's been months so by now I'm sure one of those versions is now the stable version.

I'm not sure it it is the time zone because it has gone over 24 hours without automatically restarting.

I'm currently on version 240.3.8460

Megan

Hey @Homestar9, sorry to hear about that!

Just to make sure we're on the same page here, have you tried any troubleshooting steps on your end?

Uninstalling, and then reinstalling the app might be a great start. Also, have you noticed when this behavior first started happening?

Have you tried signing out of the app, and then back in by any chance?

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

Megan

Hey @rubendn! I hope you're doing well.

Keep in mind that the 240.3.8460 version is still a beta. Since you've already contacted our Support about this, I think it'd be best to continue troubleshooting with them for further assistance since they have all the available info regarding your case.

I'd personally suggest trying out the stable version so that we can rule out that the beta version of your app is not responsible for the issue that you have mentioned. However, if this isn't something that you'd want that's understandable.

Thanks a bunch!

Michael R.100

Do not waste your time uninstalling/reinstalling or singing-out/in. If you have this problem it will not fix it. The problem also has nothing to do with the Beta version, it is in the non-beta release.

I submitted a ticket and after a few pointless and default "why don't you try reinstalling" options, I spent over half a day emailing back-and-forth with a higher level specialist, creating a long series of process log files and showing that the problem persists in a variety of conditions. Dropbox does not even attempt to start syncing when the time to restart occurs...it doesn't do anything at all, as if its not even tracking the time. Dropbox support acknowledged the bug, but have not come to a solution that I am aware of.

The one odd thing I did find is that if Dropbox is restarted AFTER the pause is set (either because the computer is rebooted after the pause was started OR because you quit Dropbox and restarted it), it does appear to start syncing again at the correct time. If you set sync to pause and Dropbox does not restart before the time "expires", it will not start syncing properly.

Thus if you happen to do something like "Pause sync Until tomorrow" and then turn off your computer for the evening, it should start working again when you turn it on the next morning. Things like Pause for 30 minutes or 1 hour are less likely to work as you're unlikely to reboot in that interval.

The tech tried to claim that "quitting and restarting Dropbox" was a valid workaround for the bug, but I disagree because if you have to to do that anyway you might as well just manually restart sync.

Michael R.100

I should also add that I found the problem on multiple computers, so its not unique to a particular configuration on one machine.

Homestar9

Sorry to hijack another thread. I was hoping that OP solved his problem.

The issue has been happening for the past month or two once Dropbox updated the UI to the more modern version. I don't recall the version number, unfortunately. However, I have tried uninstalling/reinstalling the application and it doesn't work.

The one "clue" that I discovered in my troubleshooting is that if I "pause until tomorrow", the app will automatically resume late in the afternoon on its own instead of at 8:00am, like the notification says. This makes me think it's a timezone issue. I suspect Dropbox might always use UTC instead of my local timezone when determining when to resume syncing.

A M.13

This morning, I had paused syncing until 8am GMT and now I can not restart syncing at all as the menu options are for pausing syncing and not restarting syncing as per the image below

I tried to exit dropbox and restart but that made no difference. I also tried to change the time to pause syncing for to no avail but when I changed the time to 30 minutes (even though the display said it was paused), restarted dropbox the time duration for which it was paused changed (originally 8am before the exit and as shown above now 00:03). I am on version 240.4.8493 and on Windows 10 pro. Could it be a windows 10 issue?

Is there any way to setup upgrades so that beta versions are not installed please? I am not a fan of automatic upgrades for this reason and certainly don't want non stable versions installed without my knowledge/permission.

I always pause syncing during the day and restart at night before logging off so this is very important functionality for me so I would appreciate any help and resolution.

Another annoying feature I've noticed is that when syncing is paused, you have to click on the down arrow to show the menu whereas in the past you could click anywhere from the pause button to the down arrow (including the syncing paused phrase as underlined in the above image)

Thanks very much

A M.13

This seems to have resolved itself on my login the following day. If there is an explanation for the anomaly, it would be most useful. Thanks.

Neal

Hi @A M.13,

This was a known issue that our team was working on.

They have since fixed the issue.

Let me know if anything else pops up!

rubendn

Not fixed as of version 241.3.4691

Peter H.87

Hi, I am seeing this too, on 240.4.8493 (Windows 11 x64)

Michael R.100

I also just tested it with 240.4.8493 and the issue does NOT appear to be fixed, at least for that version. Is there a newer update (stable version) that has not been pushed out yet?

Jay

Hi @Michael R.100, currently, the latest stable build is 240.4.8493, so there isn't a newer version out as yet.

Could you try reinstalling the Dropbox desktop application, without uninstalling it first, by using this link?

Michael R.100

Absolutely not.

I already played guinea-pig spending hours doing reinstallations, running tests, and generating log files intermixed with emails back-and-forth to support to document the issue. I am not wasting more time (as it will take at least a few hours for a reinstalled Dropbox to "reindex") reinstalling a version which is already not working for multiple people (all reported in this thread in the last hour) just to show that the so-called fix does not actually work.

rubendn

Jay,
Agree with Michael. Have done that already and it doesn't fix anything. It has been reported for months and the only troubleshooting advice has been to uninstall and reinstall.

I even opened a ticket with tech support and guess what they suggested, yep uninstall and reinstall. No follow up about getting logs or any other information to actually try to figure out the problem.

It's the reboot your computer tech support and hope they forget about the problem.

Neal

Hi all,

My apologies, there was absolutely a miscommunication on my part.

There is a fix in place but it will take a few days to take effect.

I'll update here once we have confirmation of when it's fully rolled out.

jsingleton

Same issue, not fixed. This is ridiculous.

liok

I just had this exact issue for the first time now, and yesterday, as I got a conflicted file (much likely because the synch didn't restart yesterday.) today I clearly saw the synch still paused after it's scheduled pause end (was just 30 min)

Peter H.87

I tried a couple of other PCs, and Sync resumed perfectly. I can't see any common factor as to why some have the problem and some don't.