Syncing issues on my Mac OS device

Question

I have a mac mini (and 4 other mac/windows devices).  The mac mini has a sync problem that I have not been able to isolate.  It uploads most but not all files, but does not download new or modified files created on other devices from the web (none of the other devices has a problem).

The message says "unknown file.trash".  I have done the following:

* checked all file names for forbidden characters and corrected the few with the characters
* Looked for a hidden trash file (none was found)
* tried repairing permissions.

Any suggestions on how to find and fix this issue?

Walter · Answer

Hey @randyartoo - sorry to hear about your syncing issue.

Could you clarify your computer's exact OS version and the status/version of the Dropbox desktop app as shown in your menu bar?

A screenshot of the exact error you're getting would also help!

henry_collins · Answer

This usually points to a corrupted sync state on the Mac rather than actual filenames. The “unknown file.trash” message often comes from the system struggling with a hidden .Trashes or cloud provider metadata entry.

Try stopping sync on that Mac first (sign out of iCloud/OneDrive/Dropbox depending on what you use), then reboot and re-enable it so it rebuilds its local database. If it’s iCloud Drive, also check the File Provider cache and let it fully reindex after sign-out/sign-in.