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Forum Discussion

Whatever2018's avatar
Whatever2018
New member | Level 2
6 years ago

How can I completely disable Smart Sync?

How can I completely, 100%, disable Smart Sync so that Dropbox will always download all of my files? The settings I have found all apply to NEW files and seem to have no impact on old files. What...
Account Settings
Desktop
FAQ
Sync
  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    6 years ago

    Hey there Whatever2018 - how are you today?

    I'm sorry to hear you would like to opt out of Smart Sync. Depending on the account you're on now you can do it following the steps mentioned below:  

    Individuals that no longer wish to use Smart Sync can do so with the steps found in the following Help Center article: 

    https://www.​​dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/filesystem-integration#optout

     If you're the Admin of a Dropbox for Business team and you'd like to opt all members of your Dropbox Business team out of Smart Sync, I'd also suggest to see the following Help Center article specifically under the section "Dropbox Business team admins: how to opt out your whole team from the system extension":  

    https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/filesystem-integration#optout

    Also note that some of your team members may have connected a work and personal account. If you opt out your team from the system extension, team members won't be able to use Smart Sync on any personal devices (or personal accounts) where they're also signed in to their Business account.

    I hope this information helps and please keep me posted on your progress!

Nathan & Shelle's avatar
Nathan & Shelle
Helpful | Level 7

First of all, I love Dropbox.

Second of all, you have got to provide a way to turn off Smart Sync completely.

I see a bunch of posts here about this. Smart Sync is disabled in preferences, yet stuff is still being kept in the cloud and downloaded on demand.  Even if the folder and files are set to local-only.

This is screwing up so much stuff for me.

- files not present when i'm offline and wanting to work

- Ableton is not able to handle this well with music projects, all kinds of bad side effects and unpredictable results

- If Dropbox is running, Chrome randomly crashes Windows 10 so hard when I tried to open files in a Dropbox-managed folder via the Browse... dialog that I have to reboot my computer

- performance of file manager in Windows 10 is absolutely terrible now if Dropbox is running

I have plenty of space and want to have all my Dropbox files (~600GB) on my computer. 

I have all the Smart Sync options turned off and it's still "smart syncing" random files from the cloud at unpredictable times. What the hell. Just LET ME TURN IT OFF.

Thanks,

Hugs 'n' Kisses

Daphne's avatar
Daphne
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
5 years ago

Hey Nathan & Shelle, I hope you're well today!

I've moved your post here so that I can ask you to take a look at Walter's post here for steps on how to completely disable Smart Sync on your computer.

Before doing so, I'd just suggest to ensure that everything is downloaded locally first. To do this easily, you right click the Dropbox folder and choose "Smart Sync - Local".

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions!

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