Dropbox App is not working on macOS

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Level 1

11 points

Dropbox App is not working on macOS

I am running macOS Catalina (10.15) and I have installed Dropbox's app version 83.4.152 (83.4.152), and when using the Dropbox app I have a lot of folders and files I want to make Online Only to save storage on my hard drive. When I click on a folder/file and use the hamburger menu on the right and select Smart Sync and then click Online Only it does not persist and the files/folders do not get marked with the Online flag.

I have checked with Dropbox and they say its an Apple problem per this link:

https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/smart-sync

Here is a screen shot:

So can anyone give me an assist or how do you send this issue on to the Apple team for macOS? I am a new Mac user.

Thank you.

iMac 27", macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 24, 2019 8:04 AM

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Answer 1

TJW2008

Level 1

33 points

Oct 24, 2019 9:58 PM in response to zovs66

Hello - I wanted to reply because I am having this issue as well. As soon as I click on any file (not opening the file, just even single-clicking on the file), Dropbox will begin downloading the file to my computer. If I right-click and select Smart Sync > Online Only, it will delete the local file and then immediately (without doing anything else) start downloading the same file. I will be following this chat and offer any feedback I come across.

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Answer 2

zovs66 Author

Level 1

11 points

Oct 25, 2019 12:52 AM in response to TJW2008

I opened a ticket up with Apple and was called within 5 minutes. The way we solved my problem was that I had to uninstall the Dropbox app completely from my system, and then all the files in the Dropbox folder were no longer synced. I then deleted all the files (since I had everything stored up on the Dropbox cloud, it took 6 days to up load 700 GB of files) on my local iMac and freed up my hard disk space. My files are still up in the Dropbox cloud and so I am happy with this solution.

At a later date I'll purchase another external HDD and see about downloading all the files locally again, but for now me and my iMac are running fine.

As far as the Dropbox app and Catalina not working as expected, you may have to contact both Apple and Dropbox. Dropbox per my research said this was an Apple issue, but in fairness to Apple it is Dropbox app.

So essentially for my particular needs the steps I followed was to uninstall the Dropbox app (I also use Clean my Mac to fix any issues) and then delete all the local downloaded Dropbox files (verifying that all my files were still I the Dropbox cloud).

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