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Forum Discussion

AndyPas's avatar
AndyPas
Explorer | Level 4
5 months ago

Dropbox on File Provider support for macOS questions

I'm reading quite a few threads on File Provider support for MacOS and I have some questions.   What exactly does this get me? It seems like a step backwards. I'm losing Dropbox Vault support and...
Desktop
Mac
Setting up the apps
Sync
Walter's avatar
Walter
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

Hey anmipa - thanks for using Dropbox and welcome to the Community!
 

You can see all the expected changes on the Dropbox for Mac OS on File Provider on this page.

 

Let us know if you have any other questions.

anmipa's avatar
anmipa
Explorer | Level 4
5 months ago

I saw that page before. I don't see the benefit of using it.

 

As an en-user of Dropbox, how will this help me over the built in Dropbox sync?

  • billgdbx's avatar
    billgdbx
    Icon for Dropbox Engineer rankDropbox Engineer
    4 months ago

    File Provider is Apple's API for syncing going forward on their newer OS versions, and replaces the use of legacy means for supporting download-on-demand.  Dropbox users who have not yet opted into FP are running a version of sync that provides most, but not all of the functionality of Online-Only files.  Even that level of support is not guaranteed by Apple long-term, therefore all users on macOS will eventually need to move onto FP, or live in a world without download-on-demand (which is acceptable to some, but not all of our users--in particular those with more Dropbox than can fit on their local hard drive).  We're continuing to work towards delivering the full feature set for FP, including external drive support and more.

    • AndyPas's avatar
      AndyPas
      Explorer | Level 4
      4 months ago

      So if I don't care about Online-Only or File-On-Demand, File Provider for Mac OS really doesn't get me anything?

       

      If I want all my files local all the time, then could I continue to use the legacy client and have access to LAN Sync? Or will that go away forever at some point and Dropbox will only support FP?

      • billgdbx's avatar
        billgdbx
        Icon for Dropbox Engineer rankDropbox Engineer
        4 months ago

        Unfortunately, that's getting into the realm of long-term Product strategy, etc, where I am surely incapable of commenting on a public forum!

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