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Dropbox for macOS syncs when the app is closed - what can I do?
*I'm copying and pasting my final reply to Dropbox support, who told me to come here - Dropbox syncs on Mac even when the app isn't open.*
Dropbox should only sync WHEN THE APP IS OPEN. You hav...
Hi Hannah, happy Monday to you as well 🙂
Dropbox isn't really connected to iCloud; they are basically two different services, which shouldn't even interfere with each other.
After some experiments, I'm starting to get it.
1. The DropboxFileProvider process on macOS and iOS use Apple File Provider to synchronise the files
2. This process runs even when Dropbox is not running.
3. Allthough one might think that ~/Library/CloudStorage/ is used by iCloud, it is not used by the Dropbox folder, which resides in the Cloudstorage folder.
4. The DropboxFileProvider syncs to Dropbox and not to iCloud.
So there is absolutely no double upload. I think point 3 got me confused to start with.
CloudStorage ≠ iCloudStorage.
Thanks! -- peter
I've gotta say, the newstyle background sync behavior with File Provider is a big win from my perspective, perhaps because I end up needing to juggle a bunch of cloud providers — iCloud, OneDrive, Drop Box, gCloud (or whatever it's called) — for various projects. There's a lot of "Where's that file? Oh, I rebooted two days ago and haven't had [cloud provider client X] open...". Then I get to open it and wait three minutes for it to get caught up. This removes that friction.
And I really like having that "Locations" spot in the Finder sidebar — it's the same pattern as in the Files app on iOS/iPadOs — and not having to have three or four duplicative-but-slightly-different cloud storage apps open all the time. Drop Box's desktop client interface is perfectly pleasant, and I'm sure someone feels that way about gCloud or OneDrive (even if it isn't me), but they're all a bit different.
I find it really improves matters conceptually in keeping track of where each file is actually stored: here's a simple, straightforward list of all of the places you keep things! The only improvement I would make would be for iCloud Drive to be down there in Locations with the hoi polloi — or hot pollo as autocorrect would have it LOL — too. But don't hold your breath for Apple to make that change.
It also (I think?) makes it harder to produce the insane mixups that would happen if you inadvertently put a folder synced by one service inside a folder synced by another.
