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Forum Discussion
How do you stop large team files from syncing to my system, once they are in the process of syncing?
I work for a film media company with team members around the world. Dropbox is a great solution until … someone happens to upload a titanic file, (like a film, or huge special FX sequence that are hu...
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Megan
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi Steve Conard, welcome to our Community!
As you already guessed, there's no way to stop an active folder/file from syncing, once the process has begun. You could pause the syncing of the app, but at some point, you'd need to resume.
What I'm thinking, that could be used as an alternative, is this: You can choose a specific folder with your team, that people would upload large content there if they have to.
Then, you (and the rest of the team) can choose to remove the folder from your device, using selective sync. That way even if they accidentally decided to upload content, it wouldn't sync to your computer.
Do you think that would work for you?
Let me know!
I started syncing into dropbox... then I unselected a large directory from syncing...
When I resume, it is still working on it... pushing it into dropbos.
How do I cancel/stop it?
- Nancy
Hi bennygabel!
If you used selective sync to remove your folder from the desktop app while it was already syncing, it’s most likely that you’ll need to wait for the app to complete the syncing process altogether, before the folder is removed/selectively synced.
As mentioned above, you can always pause the app’s syncing, but when you resume, it’ll continue right from the point you had previously left it.
In this case, and if possible, I’d suggest keeping your computer connected to the internet the whole time, so that the process may complete as soon as possible.
I hope this helps a bit.
- Hi, this idea that pausing syncing or restructuring your file system are solutions is frustrating.
I work in animation with large files, multiple projects on the go and tight deadlines …
Firstly you CANNOT prevent other people saving big files to shared folders. It happens.
Secondly if somebody shares project files I HAVE to sync them just to start the project — pausing is not an option! — but sometimes I have waited hours or days with my computer grinding away while dropbox sorts itself out (which is a special kind of nightmare if there’s some partially up/downloaded behemoth that you didn’t really need anyway hanging out at the top of the queue, the deadline is looming and you can’t even start work!).
As others have pointed out, making a file online doesn’t stop it from finishing syncing before it is removed from your computer, but the problem isn’t only that they can slow down or crash your system, they also clog up the sync queue when the files you want are stuck behind it!
Yes, you can use “sync now” but that doesn’t always help (it isn’t even an option for my scrivener projects — one of which is currently stuck underneath a partially downloaded monster video file and there seems to be no way to push the ones I want up the list!).
Also if you have many files to sync you want to be able to pause the single monster that’s getting in the way, not individually “sync next” the hundreds of other files you actually need for the project.
There needs to be a way to pause or stop individual files that works immediately, and ideally a way to easily change the sync list order to prioritise the most needed files first (Sync next is a bit crude for this).
Please sort this out — it is driving me nuts and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone! It can be very stressful when sync issues stop your work right before a hard deadline.- Walter
Hi there Beeblejuice - thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on this with us. Your feedback has been noted in our system - you can let us know if you have anything else to add.
