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Forum Discussion
Opting out of cloud storage?
I've been a Dropbox user for about 10 years. Today, I was greeted with a demand from my Dropbox client to move all of my Dropbox synced folders from ~/Dropbox to ~/Library/CloudStorage. I've done...
Hey sfsdfd, thanks for taking the time to provide additional info on your query.
Allow me to clarify that even if you update your Dropbox application to Dropbox for macOS on File Provider, you'll still have the option to have your files available offline.
Even if you don't make the choice to initially sync them as available offline, you can still manually do so afterwards, with a simple right-click choice.
The usability of the app remains the same, with the added option to switch your files to online-only, to save up hard drive space.
However, we do appreciate your feedback on this and I'll make sure to pass it along to our team.
Let us know if you have any other questions.
Rich
Super User II
Super User II
sfsdfd wrote:
However, I can't seem to find any indication of how well that marking process works.
- https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-faqs
- https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes
It is a shame that Dropbox has taken this one-size-fits-all approach and has broken core functionality in furtherance of a feature that I have no intention of ever using.
It's actually Apple that has pushed this, with their File Provider API.
Rich, your response is both dismissive and unhelpful.
I will repeat my questions above and bold it for your attention:
If one of the base folders on Dropbox is included in Selective Sync on my Mac, and if I mark that folder as "make available offline," will that designation be enforced for all files and folders? Or will this setting have to be managed constantly - e.g., I might find that newly created files were marked as "on-demand" by default and need to be updated?
Neither of the links you provided addressed those questions in the slightest.
As for this comment:
> It's actually Apple that has pushed this, with their File Provider API.
...I will refer you to the Apple FileProvider API documentation, which reads:
"You don’t need a File Provider extension to allow access to documents that your app stores locally."
Dropbox isn't required to use the FileProvider API. And even if it felt compelled to do so, Dropbox could have used the FileProvider API for on-demand files, and could have continued using conventional sync methods for "keep on device" files. One such option: allow users to designate each top-level folder (those that are subject to Selective Sync) as either on-demand or keep-on-device. The former could have been stored in ~/Library/CloudStorage and could have used the FileProvider API; the latter could have been stored in ~/Dropbox and could have used the existing Dropbox sync features.
Dropbox chose not to do that, and instead shove everyone into ~/Library/CloudStorage and the FileProvider API, whether or not users wanted to designate certain folders as keep-on-device. It chose to serve certain kinds of users over other users, and to serve the latter a second-class, poorly-documented, unreliable hack as a consolation prize.
Pejorative responses like yours fully track with that decision-making process.
Since Dropbox is no longer interested in serving users like me, I'm taking my subscription money to one of its competitors. The tone of your response validates that decision.
