You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

newkis710's avatar
newkis710
New member | Level 2
6 years ago

Binary files instad of folders

Hi everybody I have a problem that onw of shared folders in dropbox became binary file when I`m sync it with my local storage. From MAC OS or Windows it`s possible to open that file, it works like...
Linux
Sync
  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    5 years ago

    Yes, if you'd like to completely disable the Smart Sync option, you'll have to turn the system extensions off.  

     

    Let me know if that does the trick, zacanger!

zacanger's avatar
zacanger
Helpful | Level 6

I believe I'm on the stable version. My current version on both Mac and LInux is 100.3.406.

 

Here's another test I did with a text file that contains "Testing" and a 100x100 pixel black square image. When opening the text file on the mac side in textedit, it comes up as blank. Here are screnshots of the files in Finder, xxd on each of the files, and attempting to open the image in Preview and the text file in Vim. https://imgur.com/a/tGMwZWI 

 

Something I just noticed is that this only occurs when a directory was freshly synced with Selective Sync. When I initially created the test directory and files and they synced, they showed up just fine. When I unsynced them, then synced them again, they got corrupted.

 

zacanger's avatar
zacanger
Helpful | Level 6
5 years ago

Update: I should first mention that smart sync is _not_ enabled. It looks like files are being marked as "online only" and the only way to actually sync them is to open up Finder, find the smart sync settings in the context menu, and check "Local." Thanks to this thread for the answer: https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Dropbox-installs-integrations/Dropbox-desktop-on-Mac-corrupts-files-downloading-from-web-is/td-p/371006

 

That solves the immediate problem of corrupt files, but I guess points to a bug with sync: I have smart sync turned off, so synced files should actually fully sync.

  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    5 years ago

    Thanks for keeping me in the loop, zacanger, and glad to hear that you were able to resolve your initial concern.

     

    As for the files, you are right, when you sync a folder back from your selective sync settings and you have Smart Sync, it'll sync as online-only by default. 

     

    However, could you check if Smart Sync is indeed turned off for your account by going to your Dropbox system extension under your General tab online? 

     

    Let me know what you find, thanks! 

    • zacanger's avatar
      zacanger
      Helpful | Level 6
      5 years ago

      Thanks Lusil. The system extention option is on, smart sync option is off. Do I need to have both of them off to fully disable this?

      • Lusil's avatar
        Lusil
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        5 years ago

        Yes, if you'd like to completely disable the Smart Sync option, you'll have to turn the system extensions off.  

         

        Let me know if that does the trick, zacanger!

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!

Related Content