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Forum Discussion
Couln't download. Remove incompatible characters from the filename
Recently all of my computer with Dropbox have started showing a sync error "Couln't download. Remove incompatible characters from the filename. e.g. emojis, /\"<>:|?*"
The problem filename isn'...
Hey Roy2010, no worries let me share Sam's response here as well.
Hi everyone,
Sharing an update on the topic: our team is working on adjusting this, and it's expected to roll out in our next Stable Build (V190).
You can check our releases here, and we'll keep you informed on the progress.
Thanks,
Sam
I appreciate your patience on this, thank you!
I'm getting sync errors, but not sure why.
Presumably it's because of the ~ character at the end. (This character is fairly common in the Unix world as they are created by apps like emacs as backup copies of the previous version of a file that's been changed.)
It's not 100% clear since ~ isn't listed in the character examples.
More importantly, how do I fix this? How can I exclude these files, e.g. with wildcard rules, from having Dropbox try to sync them?
I don't want to keep getting sync errors every day.
Dropbox v189.3.8308 (beta)
macOS 13.6.2 (Ventura, ARM)
Hi there
I just got a "Couldn't sync files" notification which points to a folder with the following name:
.~
Why do I get the notification now? The folder has a time stamp from 2010 and has not changed its location in the last couple of years. So if this folder is trouble for Dropbox this should have been complained about a few years ago (I'm with Dropbox for some time).
Has Dropbox recently changed its policy about disallowed characters in filenames???
43 sync errors this morning! All due to tilde in filename. Also on version -8395
I have received an error report in the last couple of weeks from my Dropbox stating that files could not be downloaded due to incompatible characters.
These files are mostly archives and some are over 5 years old.
It is not possible to save a file with incompatible characters.
Has Dropbox got a problem they need to tell us about?
Has someone made a programming error that has created incompatible characters where none existed?!!
Has anyone else in the Community had the same error?
Several of our staff have the same problem.
Can we please get some help to fix these files!!
It will take weeks to go through every single file and fix the errors !!!
Yes! I am having the same issues. I have a list of over 999 sync issues - ALL WITH FILES THAT ARE OLD AND HAVE BEEN SYNCED PREVIOUSLY. Again, these are not new files. These are old file that have been in my folders for years and years. It just started last week and is starting to get frustrating. I'm thinking about cancelling to be honest. We work with hundreds of files a week.
-Giancarlo
I'm having this issue, too. Similarly to what other users have reported, the files are about ten years old and I have a huge number of them. As someone pointed out, the ~ is very common in file names on Linux systems. Renaming them is not an acceptable solution for a number of reasons. This is a bug that affects many paying users and it should be fixed!
I'm experiencing the issue on an Intel Mac with MacOS 13.5.2 and Dropbox version v189.4.8395That is the root issue and yes I agree should be fixed. But it has been documented and so users know what to do. Thus is a feature not a bug.
But that is not the bug that we in this thread want to solve.
The issue is that if Dropbox reports them as any error. It suggests that you delete the files. I have done so but the errors are still being reported.
Where is it "documented"? Dropbox does not list the tilde in their list of problematic filename characters. And they've not acknowledged this, instead using passive voice ("a change was made") to deflect.
- Mark
Super User II
Hi hzee
To fix you need to rename the file to remove it I'm afraid.
There are no wildcard / optouts etc. within Dropbox to not sync certain characters
- This is silly. I haven’t had this problem for 15 years and now Dropbox decides it’s a problem?
There once was a time when Dropbox was best-of-class. At this point Dropbox is just running out of advantages over Google Drive.
It’s been a good run, but time to say adieu.
- Megan
Dropbox Staff
Hi hzee, thanks for posting here!
It seems that other than the tilde character at the end of the file name, you're also using our beta version 189.3.8308.
Just as a test, and to check more on this: would you mind renaming the file name through the web, to see if it then syncs without an issue?
I'll be waiting for your results!
If I remove the ~ character, the sync works just fine.
The ~ character blocks the sync and triggers daily errors in my macOS menubar.
This happens in both cases: the file is created on my MacBook and the file is created in the web app.Yes, I hope that you can take that as feedback for the beta developers.
There's nothing special about the ~ character. It causes no problems with any OS or system. So it should not cause errors.- Megan
Hi hzee, definitely keeping a note of this!
Your comments on syncing and how it works in this particular case have been quite helpful, and I will do everything I can to ensure that your voice is heard.
I'll forward your feedback to the appropriate areas so we can continue to improve. Thanks!
have this issue too.
macOS 13.6.3
I have deleted all those backup (ending in ~) files but they still show in the errors.
How do I get rid of them?
I have uninstalled rebooted.
NB your web site here on Safari has to be made full screen for loading photos to the message otherwise the done button does not work as it overlaps the other buttons.
Yeah the annoying thing is that Dropbox can't tell if there are files that end in tilde because of the restrictions from File Provider, so it can't even tell if you delete them from your mac. I suggest ignoring the error, but the other option is to delete them from the web or from a non-mac computer.
dsspiegelI suspect Apple pressured Dropbox into using File Provider. Apple seems to like making sure things are done 'their way' and in my opinion 'their way' often has weird quirks.
If I had any advice for Dropbox at this point it would be to make these errors clearer, so that instead of a generic message of "remove incompatible characters like /\"<>?*:|" that doesn't mention tilde, it would be more specific and say "cannot sync files that end in tilde on Mac - these files are still available on other platforms".
Again, I have had success ignoring the error (since all my non-mac computers can still see the tilde files fine) except the Dropbox app on my Mac is now stuck "syncing". I'd like the option to thoroughly ignore these errors on Mac so that the app behaves properly otherwise.
NanoExplorer Interesting. This is consistent with what you're saying: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34650987
However, as far as I can tell, this is to enable a feature I'm not using — showing remote files that have never been downloaded as though they're on the local file system. It's unfortunate that Dropbox is giving me a degraded syncing experience on the files that I want to sync in order to enable me to use a feature that I'm not using anyway.
Also, not only is ~ not listed among the problematic characters, but . is listed as a problematic character. And "starting with . and ending with .swp" is not listed as a problem. So their error message is not as helpful or accurate as it could be.
