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Forum Discussion

tiinasarlin's avatar
tiinasarlin
Explorer | Level 4
4 years ago

change online only to local sync

A suggested solution for changing online only files to local cync was to "sync your files locally (on the top folder level)" .  This is not very helpful, because the problem is how to sync files locally.

So, how do you  "sync your files locally (on the top folder level)" ???

 

I can't see the files in the desktop app and I can't change their sync mode in the web interface. Changing the top level dropbox icon to local sync in the desktop app does not affect the files that are online only. 

 

Something I'm missing here?

/tiina

Desktop
Sync
  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    4 years ago

    Thanks for the update, Tiina!

    Selective sync is a feature that helps remove entire folders from your Dropbox folder, to save up hard drive space. Is it possible that you used it before to remove these folders?

    If that's the case, you can use the steps in the hyperlinked article, to add them back.

    Let me know if that helped!

     

    Mod note: updated link in post [last update 2023]

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    4 years ago
    Hey tiinasarlin, thanks for posting!

    To switch online-only files back to local, you'll need to control/right click on them from the Dropbox folder on your computer, click "Smart sync" and then "Local".

    Can you clarify something for me, though? You said that the files don't show up in the Dropbox desktop app. Were they maybe selectively unsynced?

    Let me know what you find!
    • Hannah's avatar
      Hannah
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      4 years ago

      Thanks for the update, Tiina!

      Selective sync is a feature that helps remove entire folders from your Dropbox folder, to save up hard drive space. Is it possible that you used it before to remove these folders?

      If that's the case, you can use the steps in the hyperlinked article, to add them back.

      Let me know if that helped!

       

      Mod note: updated link in post [last update 2023]

      • tiinasarlin's avatar
        tiinasarlin
        Explorer | Level 4
        4 years ago

        Thanks, I think I finally found the complete folder structure and could check in some selected sync activity! 🙂

    • tiinasarlin's avatar
      tiinasarlin
      Explorer | Level 4
      4 years ago
      Thanks, but since the files are not visible in the desktop app, I find it difficult to right-click them. The highest level dropbox-symbol is visible and right-clicked to "local" about 100 times. Only a few of the files under it are present locally on my computer.

      I can't tell the difference between files being selective or smart (not) synced. Are there different ways to make them appear?
      /tiina

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