I'm on a Mac with OS Sequoia, running Dropbox Plus, version 242.4.5815. My Dropbox folder location is on my internal hard drive. I've set Default sync preference to online-only since our business had files too numerous to store on my 500 GB internal drive. I have reinstalled the Dropbox app this morning and restarted my computer to try to fix these issues, to no avail. * In my Mac Finder, many files are showing as zero bytes. This creates problems with InDesign not seeing linked files. If I double click the zero-byte files and then close them, this activates them somehow, and then InDesign can see them and their true size shows in Finder. How can I make these files available automatically without having to open each one? There are way too many to open each one like this. * Additionally, the Dropbox quick action menu is missing when I right click a Finder file. It used to be available. How do I restore this functionality? * Why is my system not eligible for Dropbox on File Provider? Is this the source of the problem? Thanks for your help. Regina

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Files are zero bytes on Dropbox on File Provider

I'm on a Mac with OS Sequoia, running Dropbox Plus, version 242.4.5815. My Dropbox folder location is on my internal hard drive. I've set Default sync preference to online-only since our business had files too numerous to store on my 500 GB internal drive. I have reinstalled the Dropbox app this morning and restarted my computer to try to fix these issues, to no avail.

In my Mac Finder, many files are showing as zero bytes. This creates problems with InDesign not seeing linked files. If I double click the zero-byte files and then close them, this activates them somehow, and then InDesign can see them and their true size shows in Finder. How can I make these files available automatically without having to open each one? There are way too many to open each one like this.
Additionally, the Dropbox quick action menu is missing when I right click a Finder file. It used to be available. How do I restore this functionality?
Why is my system not eligible for Dropbox on File Provider? Is this the source of the problem?

Thanks for your help.

Regina

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Accepted answers

Jay

Thanks for the update, could you try an advanced reinstall of the app using the steps in this link?

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Dell_Dropbox

Hey @reginafaye

thx for all the details. On macOS, online-only files can show as 0 bytes in finder until they download, which can cause apps like InDesign to miss linked files. The best fix is to right-click the specific project folder (and any “Links” folder) and choose “make available offline” so everything downloads automatically. Steps here.

If the Dropbox options are missing when you right-click, please check System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions and make sure Dropbox’s finder integration is enabled.

try this and let us know the results, we'll take it from there if you still need help

reginafaye

Thanks for your response. Those Dropbox options are not available upon a right click. I went to System Settings - General - Login Items & Extensions and I see this. Is this what you mean?

Jay

Hi @reginafaye, thanks for the image.

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

reginafaye

Thanks @Jay I tried that very thing this morning, and I just now used your link to reinstall it again. Same problem. No Dropbox quick actions available. Some time ago I opted out of Dropbox on File Provider. Is this the problem maybe? How do I opt back in? My boss IS using Dropbox on File Provider and she is not having these issues.

Jay

Thanks for the update, could you try an advanced reinstall of the app using the steps in this link?

reginafaye

@Jay thank you. I executed those steps and the advanced reinstall has done some new things. My Dropbox folder is now in Cloud storage (/Users/mydrive/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox). And I appear to be using Dropbox on File Provider. And my Dropbox quick actions have returned. Yay to all of this! Right now Dropbox is in the process of syncing over 27,000 files, so I can't yet say all has been solved as I can't access these files in Finder yet. But meanwhile, can you tell me what I should do with this old Dropbox folder? How do I make Dropbox forget this old location?

Jay

I would wait a little bit until we're certain that the Dropbox desktop application is syncing files normally in the CloudStorage folder.

Once we know that the CloudStorage folder contains all the correct files, then we can delete the old Dropbox folder.

It should disappear on its own in general as you've moved to File Provider, so sometimes a reboot of the machine could help to remove it as well.

reginafaye

@Jay looks like the advanced reinstall of Dropbox was the solution, thank you so much. That old Dropbox folder is still there after several reboots and I am nervous to delete it. I'm going to ignore it for now. If you have any thoughts what I can do with that old folder, let me know. It would be nice to get rid of it because when I search for files, Finder still looks in that folder and presents those files to me along with the same copies in the new CloudStorage Dropbox.

Nancy

Hey @reginafaye, let me hop in here.

If you check the syncing status of your Dropbox app now, does it state that it’s up to date?

If it does, you can add a small file to your old Dropbox folder and check www.dropbox.com to see if it appears there (it shouldn’t, since that folder should no longer be syncing to your Dropbox account online).

After you’ve confirmed that nothing syncs anymore from that folder, you can go ahead and delete it.

reginafaye

@Nancy That is an excellent idea! The syncing status is up to date indeed, and I dropped a small file in the superfluous Dropbox folder. It did not appear online, so that's perfect. My superstitious brain will balk at deleting the folder so soon though, so I will probably keep dropping small files in it for a week or so before I'm fully confident in deleting it. Thanks for your help!

Nancy

That works too, @reginafaye! You can delete it whenever you’re ready.

If you need something else, feel free to give me a nudge.