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Forum Discussion
Why do my tags disappear when I set my files to online only?
Dear,
i have installed dropbox app on 2 macs, i have sync my box and i have used colored native tags system on first mac to tag some files with custom tags. It was correctly replicated on second m...
Hey there raziel79, how are you today?
As we don't currently have strong support for Mac OS's tagging feature (as you noticed the behavior is incosistent between 'Online Only' and 'Local' files), I wanted to thank you for the feedback and feature request for an option to be able to sync Mac's tags applied on files and/or folders across devices no matter what the state of those files is, be it 'Online Only' or 'Local'.
Our dev team are always on the look for user input when creating our next versions of the Dropbox app and we're always looking for ways to improve our services.
Therefore, I will make sure your comments are passed along to them to express your interest in this.
If there's anything else I can assist with in the meantime, please let me know.
Walter
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHey there raziel79, how are you today?
As we don't currently have strong support for Mac OS's tagging feature (as you noticed the behavior is incosistent between 'Online Only' and 'Local' files), I wanted to thank you for the feedback and feature request for an option to be able to sync Mac's tags applied on files and/or folders across devices no matter what the state of those files is, be it 'Online Only' or 'Local'.
Our dev team are always on the look for user input when creating our next versions of the Dropbox app and we're always looking for ways to improve our services.
Therefore, I will make sure your comments are passed along to them to express your interest in this.
If there's anything else I can assist with in the meantime, please let me know.
This *must* be fixed. Since there is no "master copy" in DropBox, it is quite possible for tags and file comments to be completely sync'ed out of existence. This has actually happened to me - and I was forced to save local, unsync'ed copies of certain folders in order to preserve metadata.
As a workaround, I have since moved these folders to Eagle Filer databases, because this app has a very robust and resilient metadata management system. C-Command's documentation even mentions that this functionality is necessary to combat the tendency of cloud sync'ing systems like DropBox to destroy metadata.
Hi Walter
It's been 4 years. My online-only files still don't show tags.
When 99% of Mac users use Dropbox in the Finder, you can't remove core Finder features created by Apple.
Is this impossible to fix? Are you working on it? When will it be fixed? It's a critical feature of the Finder. Millions of users use tags.Why hasn't this been fixed?
Hi walter, at the moment there is incosistent behaviour between local and online tagging,
if i tag a file in local mode and switch to online only, i lost my tags, if i come back ti local mode i see my tags infos on this files.
This strange behaviour not permit to tags file and search single file in only online mode (i have mojave) but for example, it work correctly only with folders.
Can you pass to tech and fix?
Thx
D
- Walter
Thanks for the additional information D - I appreciate it.
I've just sent you a brief message to your Dropbox email address so we can have a further look into this. Once you get back to me there, I'll send this up to an expert for further investigation.
Take a look at your inbox (ticket ID: 9038951) and we'll take it from there. Thanks!
I have this problem as well. Was there any solution to this issue? It's really annoying because I take a lot of photos and color tag them based on quality. However camera RAWs take up a lot of space and I'd like to keep them SmartSync online only.
Thanks
What is the status of fixing this? Because clearly, it is "broken" for having never been implemented.
A previous example about the possibility of tags being synched out of existence is something I had not considered, and extremely alarming. The lack of this feature is not acceptable. So what progress has been made in nearly two years???????????
I use macOS tags for productivity, keeping a search window open for certain tags and working my way through files by tagging and de-tagging them. I thought DropBox would be a great solution to my could usage, but instead, there are thousands of offline files whose tags do not populate in my tag-search windows.
This is a failure on DropBox's end. I may actually revert to iCloud.
So again, what progress has been made?
- My solution to the problem was to move all my tagged files into DevonThink Pro. I tried several other file/document managers, but DevonThink proved to be vastly superior in almost every respect. It has turned out to be a real blessing, because DevonThink has so many other useful features - especially the search tools, which are miles ahead of Spotlight.
DevonThink syncs across DropBox (and now iCloud), so my metadata is accessible everywhere. I really love it. I have no relationship to the company or anyone associated with the company — just relating my experience, one frustrated DropBox user to another.Thanks for sharing your workaround. Sounds like DevonThink steps in for / replaces Finder, which I'm not fond of, but I will deliberate funnelling 1.8TB of data through DevonThink…
What this really indicates though, is that if DevonThink can do it, DropBox can do it.
I also find it ironic that DropBox is already using the tag field for its "Online-only" tag. It would seem to me the solution might be as simple as copying the tags on upload of the full file and pasting them alongside this Online-only tag on the 0kb placeholder files.
I'm waiting for a status report, DropBox. Technically, I did not consent to the absence of tag synching when I signed up for DropBox and assuming it can handle interfacing with macOS as claimed/advertise, so this whole issue and its alarming repercussions against workflow and data loss seem quite violating of both common sense and what I'm paying for.
Hi Walter,
Is this bug being addressed? It's been years and files are still losing their tags when they go "online only". If a placeholder file is created, shouldn't it also keep it's tags the same way it keeps its name?
Having a MacOS app that removes essential MacOS features is kind of absurd. How am I going to find my filse easily through tags when the tags are gone?
User points out that other apps/services does not have this issue. Dropbox is one of the biggest cloud services in the world and should not remove essential MacOS features from the Finder!
It's a very bad bug and should be prioritized be the team. Fix it or find a workaround please!
