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

derpsn's avatar
derpsn
New member | Level 2
5 months ago

Switching from One Drive to Dropbox

Hello everyone,

Onedrive is slowly but surely driving me crazy. The main problem I'm having with it is that you can't exclude folders from the root folder for documents. As many of you know, excluding a folder in the Onedrive language means that I don't want that folder on my computer. Who came up with something like that?

Also, my PC is mainly used for gaming and nowadays all applications also store their files in the Documents folder.
I hope I got it right, but it seems that Dropbox is able to have the same feature set as Onedrive with syncing my documents, pictures and so on, but with the advantage that I can exclude certain folders without losing them locally.

Could anyone here help me see if I'm on the right track?

Many thanks in advance!

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

    derpsn wrote:

    I hope I got it right, but it seems that Dropbox is able to have the same feature set as Onedrive with syncing my documents, pictures and so on, but with the advantage that I can exclude certain folders without losing them locally.


    Hi

     

    Unfortunately not. Dropbox only sync's what is inside the \Dropbox directory. So it wont sync My Documents etc. unless you physically relocate those directories in to the Dropbox folder (which is what I always did when I had a windows device) 

    • derpsn's avatar
      derpsn
      New member | Level 2

      But I have seen that the desktop app is able to add my external document folder.

      So not by default, but I can add it, right?

      • Mark's avatar
        Mark
        Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

        derpsn wrote:

        But I have seen that the desktop app is able to add my external document folder.

        So not by default, but I can add it, right?


        That is Dropbox backup which does not sync, but instead backup. They did beta test it outside of Backup but stopped it. 

         

        Dropbox syncing (as in what you are used to with OneDrive) can only sync what is inside the \Dropbox directory. 


  • derpsn wrote:

    ... with syncing my documents, pictures and so on, but with the advantage that I can exclude certain folders without losing them locally.

    ...


    Hi derpsn,

    I will try say it a bit different. If you never added particular folder you don't need to exclude it. 😉 Hope this is a bit more clear.

    By the way, don't rely on so called "backup" - it's unidirectional sync in fact. I believe you don't need backup, but if you need a real backup, look for real backup service - Dropbox is NOT backup service, it's sync service (similar things may be said for most direct Dropbox competitors). Just don't get confused by no so correct names that have been set.

    Good luck.

    • derpsn's avatar
      derpsn
      New member | Level 2

      Hello 🙂
      I understand what you mean and you are right. The problem I have is that I want to synchronize my entire documents folder by default and exclude the ones I don't need.
      I also use features like document versioning a lot.

      Perhaps I need to rethink my current approach.

      • Здравко's avatar
        Здравко
        Legendary | Level 20

        derpsn wrote:

        ... The problem I have is that I want to synchronize my entire documents folder by default and exclude the ones I don't need.
        ...


        Hm..🤔 Ok, but I'm not sure understand what's the problem. No one of your folders get in Dropbox on it's own. If you want Documents, select it and don't select any other (like Downloads, Music, etc)...

         

        ADD: If mean ignoring subfolder in your Documents, give a try to the described here. 😉

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!