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ajbentley's avatar
ajbentley
Explorer | Level 3
6 years ago

Can't switch to online only

I've got a file that's pretty big and I've put it up to dropbox with selective sync. The original version of the file is on an external hard drive. When I switched the dropbox folder to online only (...
Desktop
Sync
  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    6 years ago

    Hey there ajbentley - sorry to hear about this; let's take a look now.

    When using Selective Sync, and choosing to sync a folder you had previously excluded on the desktop client, you may notice the files appearing with a grey cloud icon beside them. This means that the files are ‘online-only’. You can see and interact with these files as normal, but they take up practically no space on your computer.

    Through our Smart Sync feature you now have greater control and can sync only the folders or files you need by right clicking, choosing Smart Sync and then selecting 'Local'. This helps optimize your hard disk usage.

    Once we have returned these 'online-only' files/folders through Selective Sync you can now see the files and folders and then proceed with re-downloading only the content you need and want.

    If a file has been synced locally that you would prefer to have online-only, simply right click on it and select online-only from the Smart Sync menu.

    Let me know how this goes Joshua.

51m0n's avatar
51m0n
New member | Level 2

I am moving VHS video content on to my Mac. This is creating very large files which I am then individually selecting to be online only. This has been working well until now. However, with the latest file I have converted from VHS, Dropbox won't let me select 'Local' or 'Online Only'. I can go through the process of selecting 'Online Only' (see below)

Dropbox issue.jpg

but my selection does not 'take' and neither 'Local' or 'Online Only' have a tick beside them. Currently Dropbox is telling me that it is downloading the file having just spent 11 hours syncing it with Dropbox!

Help!

51m0n's avatar
51m0n
New member | Level 2
5 years ago

This problem has sorted itself out. After the file uploaded to Dropbox (11 hours!), Dropbox then seemed to need to download it again to complete the sync process (?). I was trying to select 'Online Only' when the sync was still in process (ie I had the two arrows on a blue circle) so I think that's why it wouldn't take immediately.

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