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Douglasjin's avatar
Douglasjin
Explorer | Level 4
2 years ago

How can I remove a folder from my computer, but keep it in my online Dropbox?

oh good, I have a problem. I have a Dropbox folder, let's assume I downloaded it to my computer, when I delete it a window appears reporting that if I delete it on my machine it will also delete it in the cloud Dropbox, but that's not what I want , I want to delete it on my computer and keep it in dropbox, from what I understand Dropbox has a selective synchronization tool, it's an option that appears in the window when I try to delete the folder from my machine, but I didn't understand how that is " selective synchronization" works, but could you explain it to me please? thanks.

  • Hey Douglasjin, thanks for posting to the Dropbox Community today!

     

    When you use the Dropbox application on your computer, any changes you make to the Dropbox folder, will indeed sync to your account online.

     

    So, with selective sync, you can remove entire folders from your Dropbox folder, but will still be able to access them on dropbox.com.

     

    You can read more about the feature and how to use it here.

     

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

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hey Douglasjin, thanks for posting to the Dropbox Community today!

     

    When you use the Dropbox application on your computer, any changes you make to the Dropbox folder, will indeed sync to your account online.

     

    So, with selective sync, you can remove entire folders from your Dropbox folder, but will still be able to access them on dropbox.com.

     

    You can read more about the feature and how to use it here.

     

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

    • Douglasjin's avatar
      Douglasjin
      Explorer | Level 4

      Hello good afternoon, thank you very much for the help worked all right here, thank you very much!

      • Hannah's avatar
        Hannah
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Not a problem, Douglas, I'm happy to help!

         

        If you need anything else, make sure to give us a shout.

         

        Enjoy the rest of your day and have a great weekend!

  • Shaun1976's avatar
    Shaun1976
    New member | Level 2

    I need to leave a Folder on Dropbox but remove it from my Mac. There seems to be no instructions anywhere to do this and it refers to Selective Sync but there is NO selective sync in Dropbox and there is NO preferences settings. Is someone able to help me with Detailed Instructions on how to leave folders or items on Dropbox only and delete from my MAC.

    Cheers 🙂

     

    • Hannah's avatar
      Hannah
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

      Hey Shaun1976, thanks for joining our Community!

       

      Is it possible that you're not looking at the right place for the preferences?

       

      You'll need to click on your Dropbox icon, then on your profile pic/initials, then on 'preferences' to find the 'sync' tab and the selective sync settings.

       

      You can find detailed instructions here.

       

      Let me know how it goes.

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