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Toontje's avatar
Toontje
Explorer | Level 3
7 years ago

Online-only vs. Local Preferences annoyance

Desktop App V52.4.58 on MacOS 10.12.6

 

In my Preferences i have Sync, Smart Sync, Start as: set to Online-only. Still, for every folder i create, copy or move into my Dropbox folder i have to manually set Smart-Sync to Online-only. By default it's still set to Local. And setting the folder to Online0only only has effect after the folder is completely synced. This is annoying when folders are big.

 

Feature? Bug? User error?

Desktop
Setting up the apps
  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    7 years ago
    No, it wont change anything from offline to online only. Dropbox has a specific set of instructions in place that it wont itself automatically delete anything.

    The preferences menu only really works as I said to files added elsewhere (e.g. shares)
  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    7 years ago
    I *believe* it is only applied to files when they are added from elsewhere. If you create them on the device itself then it wont turn them Online only.
  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago

    Hey Toontje - thanks for posting your question in our Forum!

     

    From what you described, I can tell you that this is actually expected behavior.

     

    Backing up what Mark said here and wanted to also add some more context. When you start using Smart Sync, your current files will not set to online only by default. Only the files added after smart sync had been enabled will present this behavior and they will have to sync completely first ( wait for your desktop app to state "Up to date"). 

     
    Furthermore, the default setting is not necessarily online only by default. The app can start with the local only default but this can easily be adjusted from the preferences as described below: 
     
    1. Click the Dropbox icon from the menu bar.
    2. Click the gear icon and select Preferences... from the menu.
    3. Click Sync.
    4. Change the selection for Smart Sync Default  to your desired option. 

    With Smart Sync, you can:

     

    • Choose if individual files or folders are available online-only or locally on your computer
    • Select a default sync setting for new files and folders that are shared with you. 
    I hope this information helps clear this up a bit and please let me know if you have any further questions.
    • Toontje1's avatar
      Toontje1
      New member | Level 2
      7 years ago

      Hi Walt3r!

       

      "Furthermore, the default setting is not necessarily online only by default. The app can start with the local only default but this can easily be adjusted from the preferences as described below: " 

      This is exactly what i am doing. I have the preferences set to Online Only. Doesn't that mean that any file i add to the Dropbox will be uploaded and if not used for a certain amount of time, they will be removed from the disk? If not, then i don't understand what the setting in Preferences is used for.

      • Mark's avatar
        Mark
        Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
        7 years ago
        No, it wont change anything from offline to online only. Dropbox has a specific set of instructions in place that it wont itself automatically delete anything.

        The preferences menu only really works as I said to files added elsewhere (e.g. shares)

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