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All files moved online

After recent update of MacOS to version 26.3.1 (25D2128) ALL of my files were moved online, although only a part of them are marked as online only in my prefernces. Moreover, if I specifically ask to make a folder that is supposed to be offline to be available offline only the files in the folder become available offline. All the embedded folders remain online only.

I'm using Dropbox version 244.4.6580 on Mac Pro Apple M2.

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Walter

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

Can you please let us know how much hard drive space you've got available on your computer at the moment?

Is the app working normally, if you navigate to your sub-folders and make them available offline?

Any additional information or even screenshots are more than welcome!

renikolopov

Currently, I have about 100GB free, but that is after I have manually made the most important (and the biggest) folders available offline.

The issue with subfolders was solved after I repeated the same request to make the whole folder available offline.

I am happy to share any additional information, but I am not sure which one. The screenshots just show most of the folders as available online only (a cloud with an arrow), but according to my preferences, most of them are supposed to be available offline.

An important piece of information is that the problem occured shortly after installing the updated MacOS.

The most important to me is to understand how to prevent this from happening again, since I discovered it when it turned out I can't do an urgen work during an air flight, since the files were not available.

Hannah

Thanks for the additional info, @renikolopov.

Just to confirm, if you go to your Dropbox folder and choose to manually make files or folders available offline, does it work?

And do they stay in that state or do they change back to online-only automatically?

renikolopov

Yes, once manually returned to offline mode, they stay offline.

Hannah

Thanks for confirming that, @renikolopov, I think that should do it.

Keep in mind that if you're using the File Provider version of the Dropbox app (Dropbox folder location in ~/Library/CloudStorage), it's expected behavior for Dropbox files not previously set to "available offline" to be automatically set to "online-only" when your hard drive is low on disk space.

But you can always manually set them back to "available offline" to resolve this.

I hope this helps!

renikolopov

Thank you very much for the explanation. I do use the File Provider version so this is a relevant concern to me.

First of all, it would be very helpful if you make this information very prominent to users of File Provider (in the hindsite, I might not have switched to this regime if I knew this weird feature. The idea that Dropbox immediately deletes all of my offline files once it hits the space limit does not sound like a good one to me.

Second, if I understand you correctly, it seems like there are three categories of files. Those that are available online only. Those that are available offline and marked as "available offline" (and they will not be deleted even if the hard drive is low on space), and those that are available offline, but not specifically marked as "available offline" (and, thus, can disappear from the computer if it runs low on space.

The question is how can I distinguish between the second and the third type? How can I understand that the folders/files are set to"available offline" mode? If I click this option, I don't see any changes in the way these folders are represented on my computer. I can still click the "make available offline" option for folders that I have already asked to be available offline.

Walter

Files with no syncing icon are the ones that might be made online-only automatically @renikolopov. You can take a look at this help center article for more info.

As for the expected changes with the File Provider version you can have a look here.

I hope this helps, but please let me know if you have any follow up questions.