Inaccurate local directory size display in MacOS Finder

I'd like to request better file size tracking for files within File Provider API.

In MacOS Finder, all directory and file sizes now list the full size of the contents regardless of their local status. I'd like to be able to see either the on-disk or uploaded file size. For instance, if only some of the subdirectories in a folder are online-only, the "cloud vs check" icon status in Finder is not sufficient to tell you if the directory is taking up space.

On the web site, General settings there is a switch labeled "Online-only files on Mac: This displays online-only file sizes in Mac Finder as zero bytes so you can easily review which files are taking up hard drive space." Unfortunately, this switch does not actually do what it says, and the switch setting does not control the file and directory size listings on the Mac. For me, at least, all files and all directories are listed as their uploaded size all the time. I would recommend either removing the switch, providing the functionality (obviously my preference), or indicating the conditions in which the switch has an effect.

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Status: Closed - Inactive

Comments

Nancy

Hey @tblanpied! Thanks for posting on our Community.

Do you mind attaching a few screenshots here of what you see on your desktop app, compared to the file size you see on the Dropbox website?

I’d also like to take a look at the sync icons you see next to the files in question.

Let me know once you’re ready, and we’ll go from there.

tblanpied

Sure. Here are two screenshots. The first is the Finder view and the GetInfo views for three example folders. The one called Refs is local, so that size is as expected. The one called Papers--ongoing has several subdirectories most of which are online-only but a few are local, and the size in GetInfo is about what I'd expect for the local files. (I don't know whether you'd expect the sync icon to show online-only in this case). The one called Shared--UMB has subdirectories and they're all marked online-only, and so the local size is small as expected. The second snapshot is the Dropbox web view.

tblanpied

Sure, thanks for following up. I'm attaching two screenshots of three representative directories. One shows them viewed in Finder and with their GetInfo and the other is from Dropbox.

"Refs" is local, so the sizes all match up pretty well.

"Shared--UMB" is all online so the disk space in GetInfo is small as expected but Finder shows it as >6GB, consistent-ish with the size on the web site but not accurate to the local size.

"Papers--ongoing" is a hybrid directory mostly online-only, but with numerous subdirectories a few of which are flagged to be available offline. The size in GetInfo is about what I'd expect to be on the disk here, but the Finder shows the full size of the directory on the web site. (I'm not sure whether you'd expect the sync icon to show just the cloud icon or something else for a mixed directory.)

Jay

Hi @tblanpied, thanks for the screenshots.

This would appear to be related to how Mac OS displays the size of local folders on your device in Finder.

As you can see, the Get Info page correctly shows the Size on Disk, which is the actual size of files stored in those folders.

There might be a setting in Finder itself that changes the 'Size' column into 'Size on Disk' instead, though we wouldn't have any information on how to change that.

I'll leave this thread open for other users to comment in with their suggestions.

tblanpied

Am I incorrect in recalling that until recently, this was the default behavior for Finder's display of the size of offline Dropbox files? I also know of no way to show the Size on Disk in the Finder.

Could you comment on what the settings switch does in the DropBox General settings? It seems to have no effect for me. Under what conditions does it do something?

Neal

Hi @tblanpied,

Thanks for sharing this with us. I've gone ahead and moved this to our Idea's section so it can gather support from other member of the Community and will hopefully be implemented.

I've given it a vote as well to help get the ball rolling!

Nancy

Your idea is now closed after being inactive for some time.

If you have another idea in mind though and you'd like to share it, we'd love to hear about it, so feel free to post it on our forum.

Cheers!