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Forum Discussion
Are symlinks from the Dropbox folder supported or not?
This page: https://help.dropbox.com/sync/symlinks last updated last September says symlinks are supported. Yet when I create a link in my Dropbox folder pointint outside, only the link gets synced [a...
Rich
Super User II
Super User IIYet when I create a link in my Dropbox folder pointint outside, only the link gets synced [an entry for it that cannot be opened appears on the web], but not the link contents.
That is the expected behavior. If you have a symlink in your Dropbox pointing to a location outside of your Dropbox folder, Dropbox will not sync the content at the other end of the link. That functionality ended in 2019.
So this:
Symlinks on macOS and Linux
On computers running macOS or Linux, the path of the file or folder the symlink points to can be synced to Dropbox.
is just plain wrong?
- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi felagund, this is correct as written. Basically, if you have a symlink that points towards the Dropbox folder or a subfolder, from outside the Dropbox folder, then it will work. This is why the second part is mentioned:
Note: If you move the original file or folder to a different location within your Dropbox account, the symlink will still point to the original location and may no longer work as intended. Additionally, if you delete the original file or folder, the symlink will no longer work at all.
This is not the same as a symlink that exists within the Dropbox folder which points outwards to another location.
Eh, that is misleading or at most terribly ambiguous. It should be rewritten to make clear that you can only symlink to something that is in the Dropbox folder (well, I do not see why it would not).
Luckily Insync supports this via something called Selective Sync, so bye-bye Dropbox client.
