Child Item

New files in Available Offline shared folders don’t auto-download for all users on Mac

Device
Macbook Pro

Question or Issue

Hi, I’m having an issue with a shared Dropbox folder on Mac (M-series). My default sync setting is Online-Only for new files, but if a folder is set to Available Offline, any new files I upload automatically download offline for me. However, for the other user, even though their folder is also Available Offline, any new files I upload remain Online-Only and don’t download automatically. All other settings, including Selective Sync and folder location, appear identical. We want new files in Available Offline folders to automatically download offline for all users, while folders that are Online-Only should keep new files as Online-Only.

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Comments

Walter

Hey @Justina_Audio - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

What you described would be expected if the other user has set their default setting to online-only.

That said, just to be sure we're on the same page, can you please clarify what kind of Dropbox accounts you and the other users are using? Are you using individual accounts or team ones? Also, what is the version of the app on the affected computers as shown in the menu bar?

Let us know more and we'll take it from there.

Justina_Audio

Just to clarify our situation: both users have default sync set to Online-Only, yet the behavior is different. We are using a team account, I believe Dropbox Business.

On my older Mac [macOS 10.15], which only supports the basic Dropbox features, my account behaves the same as on my new Mac [macOS 26.3; Dropbox version 243.4.6956]: files uploaded to a folder set as Available Offline automatically download, even though the default setting is Online-Only. However, the other user’s Mac [macOS 15.5; 243.4.6956) does not behave the same way—their Available Offline folder does not automatically download new files.

We’d like to understand why this difference occurs and how to ensure consistent automatic download for Available Offline shared folders across all users.

Walter

Are all users using Dropbox on File Provider which is an update available to all Dropbox users on macOS @Justina_Audio?

Justina_Audio

To my knowledge, no one on our team is using Dropbox on File Provider, including myself.

Jay

Hi @Justina_Audio, could you ask the other members of the team to right click their Dropbox folders and choose the Available offline option.

This will force the Dropbox folder to have all files and folders downloaded locally.

Justina_Audio

We have already tested this scenario. My colleague set a shared folder to Available Offline, and then I uploaded a new file into that folder. The file appeared on their side, but remained Online-Only.

When we tested the reverse, the behavior was different: when files are uploaded into a folder that I have set as Available Offline, they automatically download and become Available Offline on my computer.

So the same setup produces different results for different users, which is what we’re trying to understand and resolve.

Jay

Thanks for the info, 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.

Justina_Audio

Could you please add a link? Thank you.

Jay

Apologies, the link wasn't attached in my previous message. You can contact support via this link.