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Forum Discussion

WilliamLow's avatar
WilliamLow
Helpful | Level 5
7 years ago

Selective Sync Conflict mess!

Hello,  I just did a fresh OS install on my Mac, with my Dropbox folder on an external drive (my startup disk is too small to hold this data). I thought that I setup my Dropbox correctly, pointing t...
desktop
sync
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    7 years ago
    Hi William, unfortunately there’s no way of merging the folders into one using Dropbox, since there isn’t a way of knowing which folder/file has the most up-to-date information in it, or instead older files that do have important data.
     
    This can only be checked manually by yourself since only you know which files need to be kept or discarded.
     
    The reason for these extra folders is that previous you had folders which were selectively ‘unsynced’ already according to the desktop app. This should delete the local copy of the folders on that drive.
     
    However, it seems that the folders were either recreated by some app, or the folders weren’t deleted in the first place. They would’ve had a gray minus symbol showing that they weren’t syncing to the site.
     
    When connecting the Dropbox account to the external drive after the reinstall, either these folders were then allowed to sync to the drive (i.e. all folders had a check next to them), and then this would create the selective sync conflicts. 
     
    This is done avoid data loss, since as I mentioned, only you know which files should remain or not.
     
     
    Hope this helps to clarify matters!
     
johnchubb's avatar
johnchubb
New member | Level 2

I think this answer is a total fail to understand the impact to the customer.  If you don't want to use diff tools to verify all the files are the same, at least prompt the user to select which files to keep and stop cloning directories.  It's gotten so bad, I have conflict folders of conflict folders.  My use case is 2 computers with dropbox folders causing nightmares.  Why would we know that selective sync actually meant DropBox was deleting the folders locally?  I will be looking for an alternative provider if this continues to be unresolved.

aaaaaaabbbb's avatar
aaaaaaabbbb
Explorer | Level 4
6 years ago

Thank you! this answer basically just says "we are going to [profanity removed by moderation according to the Community Guidelines]  up ALL of your files and you are stuck manually checking potentially THOUSANDS of files"

I will also be switching to an alternate provider. I am paying way too much money for features that are BEYOND buggy. You might consider getting some better coders, there are plenty out there. 

  • Michael L.96's avatar
    Michael L.96
    Helpful | Level 7
    6 years ago

    Dear Dropbox, just fix all the many bugs in your software and these types of threads will disappear. It still appears that no one is doing anything about it and all the nice emails in the world aren't going to change people's mind. Stop adding new features that people don't want and fix your longstanding bugs. Smart sync is totally useless and unneeded in my opinion. I'd rather have selective sync working the way I should. Isn't that one of your basic features? It still doesn't work! Now I have to deal with this online and local [profanity removed by moderation according to the Community Guidelines] that doesn't work either. Even though I have local set in my preferences, everything sinks online only and I have to go back and switch it to local, a second step.

    • Jane's avatar
      Jane
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      6 years ago
      Hey aaaaaaabbbb, apologies if there has been any misunderstanding along the way, however my message to the last poster meant to convey that this may be cumbersome if a larger number of files have been affected, however it aims to prevent overwriting important content in error. That said, we’re here to help you as much as possible if you’re also facing a similar discrepancy, as long as you provide us with the specifics regarding your current situation. 
       
      Last but not least, that’s also an brief reminder that we aim to foster a healthier conversation and debate on the Community & that’s why I modified your post accordingly. If there’s anything I can do on my end, please let me know in your next message. Thanks! 
      From there Michael L.96, following-up from our ongoing discussion, I’ve made sure to message you back on my end on the latest ticket you’ve submitted on our system. Please refer back to this email chain, as we can work more efficiently towards resolution via this channel, since we can access your account specifics on our tools. Thanks again!  
      • kjconnors's avatar
        kjconnors
        Explorer | Level 4
        6 years ago

        And here I thought it was just me ...

        I experience this problem too, and it is no small matter. I am dealing with nearly 4T of data. With selective sync problems as described in this thread, I can't describe how time-consuming (weeks, not hours) and frustrating the problem has become, especially as it has happened repeatedly. Waste massive time fixing it once, then the joy of fixing it again.

        If rectifying the situation directly is impractical due to overwrite concerns, how about a built-in utility to aid the user in resolving the duplicate-and-or-missing-files problem without having to go to yet another third party?

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